Rocky Mountain Voice

Menu

Local

State transportation project shutters 22-year-old Grand Junction auto sales business via eminent domain
No Comments
Approved, Local, The Business Times

State transportation project shutters 22-year-old Grand Junction auto sales business via eminent domain

By Brandon Leuallen | The Business Times For 22 years, GJ Auto Sales was a fixture in the Grand Junction community, a family-run business operated by Amber Colunga Martinez and Mike Martinez. But now, the lot at 320 S. First St. will be transformed into a state-led mobility hub, part of Colorado’s climate-focused transportation plan. Selling the property to the state of Colorado, the City of Grand Junction and Mesa County due to impending eminent domain has left the couple without enough to financially open up again in a viable location. The Martinezes said they first learned of the Colorado Department of Transportation’s plans not through official communication, but by reading a story in The Daily Sentinel. “We found out about it through the Sentinel posting an article about i...
Read More
Mayor Mobolade’s town hall tour met with mixed reviews across Colorado Springs
No Comments
Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

Mayor Mobolade’s town hall tour met with mixed reviews across Colorado Springs

By Brennen Kauffman | Denver Gazette Friday marks two years since Yemi Mobolade was sworn in as Colorado Springs' 42nd mayor. His achievements so far have drawn mixed reactions from the city's residents who attended the Report Out Community Tour events this week. Mobolade launched the tour on May 23, holding a meeting in each of the six Colorado Springs City Council districts to hear how residents felt about the progress made on the goals. The largest turnout was Tuesday night, when several dozen people sat in the auditorium of The Classical Academy for the District 2 meeting. The crowd was unhappy to find out that Mobolade would not be appearing. City staff and council members said he had attended Monday's town hall while sick but had begun feeling worse. Mobolade was absent from...
Read More
“Not one mention of sexual abuse”: Parents slam Jeffco union as Title IX storm builds
No Comments
Approved, Local, Rocky Mountain Voice, Top Stories

“Not one mention of sexual abuse”: Parents slam Jeffco union as Title IX storm builds

By Heidi Ganahl, Rocky Mountain Voice Jeffco Public Schools is at the center of a storm as teachers and parents clash with Superintendent Tracy Dorland over leadership, transparency, and the district’s handling of cultural and safety concerns.  Tensions hit a breaking point on May 29, when the Jefferson County Education Association (JCEA)—representing roughly a quarter of Jeffco’s 5,000 teachers—declared a vote of no confidence in Superintendent Tracy Dorland. The move came just days before news broke of a federal Title IX investigation into the district. Union leaders accused her of top-down leadership, fostering instability, and eroding trust. They highlighted high turnover in central office staff, the rejection of a board-approved policy on ICE protocols, and the rollback ...
Read More
Illegal immigrant faces 118-count indictment for firebombing pro-Israel demonstrators
No Comments
Approved, Local, The Colorado Sun

Illegal immigrant faces 118-count indictment for firebombing pro-Israel demonstrators

By Jesse Paul | Colorado Sun Mohamed Soliman, 45, could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted. He appeared in court at the Boulder County jail on Thursday afternoon. BOULDER — The man accused of tossing Molotov cocktails into a group of peaceful demonstrators in Boulder was charged Thursday in state court with 118 counts, including attempted murder. Mohamed Soliman, 45, could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted. He appeared in court at the Boulder County jail on Thursday afternoon where he was advised of the charges against him. Soliman is being held in lieu of a $10 million bond.  The 118 charges included 28 counts of attempted first-degree murder and nine counts of first-degree assault, court documents show. Soliman’s next appearance in Boulder ...
Read More
D-Day remembered: Fort Carson’s Sgt. Simmons honors family legacy of valor on 81st anniversary
No Comments
Approved, denvergazette.com, Local, National

D-Day remembered: Fort Carson’s Sgt. Simmons honors family legacy of valor on 81st anniversary

By Mary Shinn | Denver Gazette A Fort Carson soldier honored his family’s history this week in France ahead of commemorating the 81st anniversary of D-Day on Friday. On Monday, Sgt. John Simmons visited the grave of his great-great-uncle Cpl. Raymond Parry in St. Mihiel American Cemetery, marking the first time in 95 years a member of the family visited the grave of the World War I soldier who never went home to Wyoming. Later in the week, he expected to receive his promotion to staff sergeant on Utah Beach, a battle site his great-grandfather Glenn Thomas Workman passed through as part of the 6th Armored Division, after it was secured 81 years ago. Simmons comes from a long line of service members on both sides of his family, including three members who served in World War I a...
Read More
Federal judge issues order blocking deportation of Boulder firebomb terrorist’s family
No Comments
Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

Federal judge issues order blocking deportation of Boulder firebomb terrorist’s family

By Colleen Slevin, Jesse Bedayn and Rebecca Santana | Associated Press via Denver Gazette BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — A federal judge issued an order Wednesday to prevent the deportation of the wife and five children of an Egyptian man charged in the firebombing attack in Boulder, Colorado. U.S. District Judge Gordon P. Gallagher granted a request from the family of Mohamed Sabry Soliman to halt deportation proceedings of his wife and five children who were taken into federal custody Tuesday by U.S. immigration officials. The family members have not been charged in the attack on a group demonstrating for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Soliman faces federal hate crime charges and state charges of attempted murder in the Sunday attack in downtown Boulder. U.S. ...
Read More
“Write your own rules?” Douglas County voters to decide if it’s time for Home Rule
No Comments
Approved, Local, Rocky Mountain Voice, Top Stories

“Write your own rules?” Douglas County voters to decide if it’s time for Home Rule

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Supporters call it a chance to protect local values and reclaim decision-making power. Opponents warn the benefits are overstated – and the risks misunderstood. On June 24, Douglas County voters will weigh in on whether to create a Home Rule Charter Commission – and decide who should serve on it. The commission would be made up of 21 members, including six from each commissioner district and three at-large. If the measure passes, the elected commission will draft a charter that could reshape county governance. Ballots were mailed starting June 2. Drop boxes and in-person voting will remain open through 7 p.m. on Election Day. Before voters decide, it’s worth understanding what’s at stake: Home Rule would give Douglas County the chance t...
Read More
Denver City Council considering plan to fix voter disconnect in at-large races
No Comments
Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

Denver City Council considering plan to fix voter disconnect in at-large races

By Deborah Grigsby | Denver Gazette Citing concerns of voter confusion and wasted votes, five Denver City Council members are proposing the city change how it elects its two citywide at-large council seats by splitting them into two separate races. They say the move will also increase voter participation. Currently, the at-large members are elected on a single ballot, with the top two vote-getters declared the winners, District 2 Councilmember Kevin Flynn said. Every elected official in Denver, except for the at-large candidates, must be elected by greater than 50% of the vote, city officials said during Monday’s City Budget and Policy Committee meeting. However, since 1991, nearly a third of votes in the at-large races have been left blank, more than 12 times the amount of ...
Read More
Kalam: Colorado’s Woke Zealotry Ushers Islamist Terror into Boulder
No Comments
Approved, Commentary, Local, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Kalam: Colorado’s Woke Zealotry Ushers Islamist Terror into Boulder

By Ahnaf Kalam | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Just over a week ago, I warned that the shooting of two young Israeli embassy employees in Washington, D.C., by a far-left zealot chanting “Free Palestine” was not an isolated act but a harbinger.  In progressive strongholds, where criminal fanatics like Luigi Mangione are lionized, such violence would not merely persist—it would metastasize. And so it has. In Boulder, Colorado, barely an hour from my home, the grim prophecy has been fulfilled. Last Tuesday, I was in Washington, D.C., attending a policy conference under heavy security. That morning, I spoke with a friend and colleague, an IDF reserve major in the Homefront Command, about the gnawing vulnerability we felt in a city like D.C.Stripped of the Sig Sauers we c...
Read More
Fremont rancher’s cattle remain quarantined after 15 die mysteriously—county and state investigating cause
No Comments
Approved, KOAA News, Local

Fremont rancher’s cattle remain quarantined after 15 die mysteriously—county and state investigating cause

By Peter Choi | KOAA Multiple tissue tests of the dead cow came back negative, the rancher says COAL CREEK, Colo. (KOAA) — A rancher in Fremont County continues to seek answers as to why 15 cows died in one day. News5 first reported the incident on March 21. Since then, the rancher, Kerri Higgs, has been scrambling to learn the cause of the deaths from several tests. On May 8, Higgs found 15 of her cows dead with no definite cause of their deaths. She contacted a local vet to find answers. A week later, the vet told Higgs that sulfate poisoning is likely the cause. Higgs says the local vet took samples to a different lab to get a second opinion. "She talked to Dr. Webb at Colorado State University (CSU). They conversed," said Higgs. On May 27, the CSU vet released a...
Read More