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Congressman Gabe Evans introduces BELOS Act to support military families
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Congressman Gabe Evans introduces BELOS Act to support military families

By Tori Ganahl | Rocky Mountain Voice In a move to honor America’s fallen service members and their families, Colorado Congressman Gabe Evans has introduced the Benefits that Endure for Lifetimes of Service (BELOS) Act, a bipartisan bill that would provide free lifetime National Park passes to families of veterans who passed away due to service-related illness or injury​. The bill is named in honor of First Sergeant Marc Belo, a decorated U.S. Army soldier who dedicated 30 years of his life to serving his country.  Belo was a first responder at the Pentagon on 9/11 and deployed three times—to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo. He passed away in 2024 due to cancer linked to his military service​. Rep. Evans, a fellow veteran who served alongside Belo, emphasized the signif...
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House Democrats push “most outrageous” SB25-003 forward after 12-hour hearing
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House Democrats push “most outrageous” SB25-003 forward after 12-hour hearing

By RMV Staff | Rocky Mountain Voice The sheriff in town may be tasked with the administrative burden of weighing in on your future firearm purchase, if Democrat lawmakers have their say. Although sheriffs from El Paso, Lake, Mesa and Weld counties testified that Senate Bill 25-003 is both unconstitutional and difficult to enforce, the House Judiciary Committee advanced the legislation after twelve hours of testimony. The bill started as a full ban on manufacturing and selling semiautomatic guns but has since been watered down.  The latest version still imposes severe restrictions, requiring would-be buyers to navigate an onerous and bureaucratic process, including an additional background check, training requirements and even sheriff approval. House Republicans took to Twi...
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Taxed and voiceless: How a debt trap turned Meadows Metro District residents into an ATM for bondholders
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Taxed and voiceless: How a debt trap turned Meadows Metro District residents into an ATM for bondholders

By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Imagine paying a $200 tax each month for a community infrastructure project that was completed decades ago. To add insult to injury, consider being told that you’ll continue doing so for 100 years.  That’s the reality for approximately 20,000 property owners who reside in Meadows Metro District (MMD), Castle Rock's largest neighborhood in Douglas County. The MMD ‘limited tax’ general obligation bonds were issued in 1989 to finance infrastructure, including roads and sewer systems. The project’s initial price tag was $57 million. But residents have paid approximately $400 million, with a remaining debt of $600 million due to a negative amortization structure.  How did a ‘limited tax’ bond turn into a debt that...
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Mesa County Commissioner advocates for fair share of transportation dollars
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Mesa County Commissioner advocates for fair share of transportation dollars

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice With an ever shrinking budget, and an ever increasing demand for state money for road repairs and construction due to increasing population and use on the Western Slope, Mesa County Commissioner, Bobbie Daniels went to the state legislature to put a spotlight on the needs of western Colorado. Her testimony highlighted the growing disparity between urban and rural infrastructure funding and the critical need for investment in the roads that keep Colorado moving. Rural communities, which already face resource limitations, are disproportionately affected. Large-scale infrastructure projects in these areas rely heavily on state and federal funding. Yet, much of the transportation budget is allocated to specialized urban pro...
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Ruehmann: NGOs and PACs took Colorado—here’s how we take it back
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Ruehmann: NGOs and PACs took Colorado—here’s how we take it back

By James Ruehmann | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice In the early 2000s, Colorado was a bastion of conservative governance, with a Republican majority steering state politics. But by 2012, Democrats had orchestrated a dramatic resurgence.  Since then, Republicans failed to begin chipping away at their supermajority, until the 2024 elections. This left many conservatives wondering: “What happened?”  The answer lies in a calculated strategy that leveraged non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and political action committees (PACs) to systematically dismantle the conservative majority.  Radical far-left organizations like ProgressNow and Fair Share Action became the vanguard of this transformation, utilizing aggressive grassroots mobilization, strategic fundin...
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Anderson: SB25-003 faces Constitutional hurdles under the Bruen standard
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Anderson: SB25-003 faces Constitutional hurdles under the Bruen standard

By Phillip Anderson | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Many conservatives and Second Amendment advocates have raised concerns about the constitutionality of SB25-003, a bill that seeks to make it significantly more difficult for Coloradans to exercise their Second Amendment rights. These advocates argue that if the bill becomes law, it will not withstand a constitutional challenge under the Bruen standard established by the Supreme Court of the United States. If you do not closely follow Supreme Court cases or have never heard of the Bruen standard, you may be unsure what to make of these claims. The Bruen standard of review in Second Amendment cases originates from New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen. In this case, two New York residents challenged a s...
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Walcher: Zombies That Can Never Be Killed
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Walcher: Zombies That Can Never Be Killed

By Greg Walcher | GregWalcher.com In Haitian folklore a zombie is a dead body reanimated through Vodou magic. The modern concept of zombies as flesh-eating creatures from the cemetery evolved more recently, from the 1968 comedy/horror film, “Night of the Living Dead,” and sequels like “Dawn of the Dead,” “Day of the Dead,” and “Return of the Living Dead.” Some call them cult classics now, staples of the horror genre. Such films all have one thing in common: no matter how many times the bad guys are killed, they keep coming back. The same is true in politics, where the term “zombie” is often used to describe federal agencies and programs whose legal authority has expired but nevertheless continue to operate as if nothing changed. Coloradans are justifiably proud that their...
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HB 1010 an attempt to expand governor’s power, Rep. Hartsook complains
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HB 1010 an attempt to expand governor’s power, Rep. Hartsook complains

By Brian Porter | Rocky Mountain Voice State Rep. Anthony Hartsook is concerned with the tsunami of bills he sees filtering through the legislature. "Numerous bills expanding government control continue to flood the General Assembly, threatening businesses and economic freedom," he wrote in a report to his District 44 constituency. One example, Hartsook says, is Democrat-led House Bill 25-1010, which aims to protect consumers from "price gouging during a declared disaster." Like many bills floating through the legislature, it does more than its title or brief description might indicate. "This legislation hands unbridled power and authority to the governor to declare a disaster, based on an 'imminent threat,'" Hartsook said. "We’ve seen this playbook before — for 16 months, the ...
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‘This is our Alamo!’: Gun owners rallying March 11 against SB 3 in Colorado House committee
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‘This is our Alamo!’: Gun owners rallying March 11 against SB 3 in Colorado House committee

By Brian Porter | Rocky Mountain Voice A bill which some gun advocates say would lead to extinction of their rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution is scheduled for a hearing Tuesday, March 11, in the House's Judiciary Committee. Senate Bill 25-003, led through the upper chamber by Sens. Julie Gonzales and Tom Sullivan, prohibits the transfer, sale and purchase of semiauto firearms with certain exclusions permitted to allow the bill to clear the Colorado Senate on a 19-15 vote, with all Republicans and three Democrats opposed. At issue is whether, in the interest of stemming mass shootings in the state, if Coloradans should sacrifice constitutionally-provided gun ownership rights. Sullivan says the measure works to enforce the "high-capacity magazine ban" from 2014, but othe...
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10 months after hailstorm closed it, Rep. Boebert is demanding reopening of Yuma post office
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10 months after hailstorm closed it, Rep. Boebert is demanding reopening of Yuma post office

By Brian Porter | Rocky Mountain Voice On the Eastern Plains of Colorado, tornadic storms delivering high wind, hail and damage can be commonplace. Property can be damaged by multiple storms a year. While Adams and Weld counties are known to be the state's top targets for tornadoes, all of Eastern Colorado sits within "Tornado Alley," so coined by U.S. Air Force meteorologists. One of those storms about 10 months ago delivered large hail to Yuma, Colo., and resulted in the closure of the local post office. Some in Yuma recall hail being larger than a baseball and up to the size of a softball. U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Windsor, is pleading to get the post office reopened. "I am writing to address the ongoing closure of the Yuma Post Office, which has remainedinoperable due ...
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