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Durango School Board pauses decision to ban LGBTQ+, Black Lives Matter flags in classrooms
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Durango School Board pauses decision to ban LGBTQ+, Black Lives Matter flags in classrooms

By Jen Schumann | Contributor, Rocky Mountain Voice In a room charged with emotion, the Durango School Board's decision to revisit their flag policy left the community holding its breath. The Durango School Board met Oct. 15 to discuss the district's recent choice to take down LGBTQ+ Pride and Black Lives Matter flags from classrooms. The controversy began when a parent lodged a complaint on Sept. 11, arguing that Black Lives Matter and the Pride flags are political symbols. The parent claimed these flags promoted political agendas in a school setting. In response, Durango School District 9-R implemented a policy on Oct. 1, requiring the removal of these specific flags, while allowing standard Pride flags to remain. This decision ignited community and teacher concerns, leadi...
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Aurora police searching for man in connection to 12 armed robberies
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Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

Aurora police searching for man in connection to 12 armed robberies

By Sage Kelley | Denver Gazette Police asked for the public's help in identifying a suspect thought to be connected to 12 robberies throughout southeast Aurora. Most of the 12 reported armed robberies have happened in the area of South Chambers Road and Alameda Avenue after dark since late August, according to a social media post by the Aurora Police Department. The suspect has been targeting Hispanic individuals in the area, especially those who speak Spanish, police said. In one of the robberies, the suspect allegedly fired shots. In another, on Oct. 9, the Community College of Aurora CentreTech Campus was placed on secure perimeter as police searched for the man. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
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If you live in Denver, Larimer counties, you can expect marathon ballots to vote
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Approved, completecolorado.com, Local

If you live in Denver, Larimer counties, you can expect marathon ballots to vote

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado Depending on where you live in Colorado, the 2024 election ballot may seem like you just sat down to start a new novel, with a storyline that hikes taxes and debt,  makes changes to city and county charters, bans “trophy” hunting of mountain lions when it’s already illegal, and allows government employees to collectively bargain, among myriad other things. Indeed, if 14 statewide ballot measures and a near like amount of judicial retention questions aren’t enough, many cities, towns, counties, school districts and other special taxing districts have piled on their own measures, making some ballots — such as Denver’s — as much as six pages long. Complete Colorado looked at a few of the local ballots around the state, incl...
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Homeless are ‘dumpster diving’ and rural police chief wants trespassing law to stop it
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Homeless are ‘dumpster diving’ and rural police chief wants trespassing law to stop it

By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice A new measure could be added to Fort Morgan's criminal code in response to a homeless man who may nearly have been killed as a result of living inside a dumpster on trash pickup day. "Fortunately, the guy was able to get out and jumped out of the truck and ran off the hood," Police Chief Loren Sharp said. "He literally would have been crushed, had he not gotten out of there." Sharp is asking members of City Council to consider a trespassing ordinance which would include the interior of a dumpster, making it illegal to be within the confines of a dumpster. "We don't have any [trespassing law] that talks about dumpsters and receptacles," he said. The concern and frustration of residents toward homeless in Fort Morgan has grown throughout ...
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Taxpayer dollars used to buy campaign signs for Englewood bond measure
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Taxpayer dollars used to buy campaign signs for Englewood bond measure

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics The City of Englewood is facing criticism over a possible campaign law violation after using taxpayer dollars to purchase lawn signs advocating for the passage of one of its ballot measures.   According to Colorado Community Media, the signs, encouraging voters to approve an over $40 million bond measure for the city's parks, were purchased on July 1, before the city council officially voted to put the question on the ballot for residents.  About $2,000 in taxpayer funds was used to purchase 250 lawn signs, which read, "Yes to Parks & Recreation - Support Englewood's Parks & Recreation Bond." The signs do not disclose their funding source, another potential violation under Colorado's Fair Campaign Practices Act (FCPA)...
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Fourth Judicial district attorney requests $50,000 salary increase ahead of election
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Fourth Judicial district attorney requests $50,000 salary increase ahead of election

By Savannah Eller | Colorado Politics Fourth Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen is asking El Paso County for a $50,000 salary increase for his own position, spokesperson Kate Singh said Tuesday. The request is part of a department budget that the El Paso Board of County Commissioners will decide on at the end of the year. Allen made a presentation this week on budget critical needs for his office, which included creation of two new District Attorney's Office jobs and an ongoing $100,000 operation expenses increase for its 2025 budget. The presentation did not discuss changes to existing salaries, including his own.  READ THE FULL STORY AT COLORADO POLITICS
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Devotional: Don’t be a rebel. Engage in the process and vote.
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Devotional: Don’t be a rebel. Engage in the process and vote.

By DRAKE HUNTER | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice As we look ahead to our country's future, it's important to recognize the significant role that the government plays in shaping it. While there may be differing perspectives on this role, it's undeniable that the government holds substantial influence over our collective destiny. We must envision the future and assess how our personal governance and contributions impact the well-being of our country. In Christianity, there is a profound belief in the ultimate authority resting in the hands or work of God. There's a strong emphasis on the responsibility of followers to uphold the 'Goodness' of God, often referred to as 'Governance.' Governance works in tandem with preserving goodness; when functioning optimally, it's seen as the Pr...
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Arvada residents pushing back on homeless option for shuttered school purchased for $6.3M
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Arvada residents pushing back on homeless option for shuttered school purchased for $6.3M

By Deborah Grigsby | The Gazette The City of Arvada spent $6.3 million to purchase a former charter school after it closed earlier this year due to declining enrollment. Now residents are pushing back against one of the potential options for the former Early College Arvada campus — a navigation center for homeless people. Arvada, like other cities along Colorado's Front Range, is dealing with a homeless population, though nowhere as big as the problem in Denver, where the crisis keeps growing despite officials spending millions of dollars in the last several years. READ THE FUL STORY AT THE GAZETTE
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‘This was a takeover’: CBZ Management no longer silent on violent TdA activity in Aurora
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‘This was a takeover’: CBZ Management no longer silent on violent TdA activity in Aurora

Jurinsky: 'Police chief leadership and city management lied' By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice A property management company, which has been vilified in Aurora as a slumlord, has begun to speak out through a new social media account. They are providing, in the words of Paul Harvey, the rest of the story. In 2019, CBZ Management was hired to manage Aurora apartment properties by the new owners. The properties were in poor condition and CBZ Management was assigned renovation to increase the rent value, the company's first posting on Oct. 11 reads. "We understood this project would take years to yield results and would be both time-consuming and costly, involving comprehensive upgrades to every unit and the overall structure," the Twitter/X post from @CbzManagement reads. ...
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On Western Slope, opioid crisis continues and sheriffs say it is leading to mental health, crime
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On Western Slope, opioid crisis continues and sheriffs say it is leading to mental health, crime

By Lindy Browning | Contributor, Rocky Mountain Voice Mesa County Sheriff Todd Rowell and Delta County Sheriff Mark Taylor have had  a constant battle fighting the opioid crisis in their counties since 2017, when it first started impacting western Colorado. MESA COUNTY When opioids first appeared as fentanyl on the Western Slope in 2017-18, each pill cost $18. Now, because of increases in the supply, they are $2 a pill.  "Fentanyl is a 45-minute high, and we see people taking up to 40 pills a day. It makes zombies out of people in our community,” Rowell said. In Mesa County, according to Rowell, law enforcement and first responders have had to administer Narcan - a medication that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose - 114 times in the last year. “That’s one person every t...
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