Rocky Mountain Voice

Menu

Rocky Mountain Voice

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
Taxpayers Left Holding the Bag After $2 Billion Solar Project Fails
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, National

Taxpayers Left Holding the Bag After $2 Billion Solar Project Fails

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com A decade ago, three giant companies took advantage of federal incentives to build the world’s largest solar power plant in the Mojave Desert, known as Ivanpah. It was “the wave of the future,” a new technology that focuses 300,000 computer-controlled mirrors to reflect solar rays onto three boiler towers, each the height of a 40-story building. The water inside is heated to produce steam that can generate 392 megawatts, enough electricity to power 140,000 homes. Supposed to last 30 years or more, the technology is already considered obsolete. Obama Administration loan guarantees financed three-fourths of the $2.2 billion cost, making it a safe investment for the three owners – Google, BrightSource Energy, and NRG Energy. I wrote a column ...
Read More
The Math Behind America’s Slow Surrender
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

The Math Behind America’s Slow Surrender

By Sean Pond | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Every generation tells itself the same lie, that compromise keeps the peace, that negotiation is what holds a democracy together. But if you trace it out in hard math instead of soft emotion, you’ll see that every “reasonable middle ground” we’ve chosen has moved this country one step closer to socialism and one step further from the principles our Founding Fathers built this nation on. Let me show you what I mean. The Freedom Scale Picture a number line. Zero means no government. One hundred means total government control, socialism or pure democracy, where rights exist only when the majority allows them. Our Founders placed America around thirty, a balanced, limited government designed to protect liberty, property, a...
Read More
Grassroots effort pays off as GOP-endorsed school board candidates win big in Delta County
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Grassroots effort pays off as GOP-endorsed school board candidates win big in Delta County

By Angie Many & Shirley Bauer | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice We won! We won! At the Watch Party after the monthly Delta County Republican meeting, the mood was ‘Elation!’ as it was almost certain that GOP-endorsed candidates Adena Kreutz and Sheldon Kier had become newly-elected members of the local school board.  Over 40 people were at the GOP meeting, which combined regular monthly business with waiting for election results with fingers crossed and silent prayers offered. Both Adena and Sheldon attended and thanked those present for their support while everyone watched the vote tallies with cautious optimism. Adena and Sheldon were each almost 1,000 votes ahead of opponents by the time the meeting and GOP Watch Party ended. (A total of about 10,000 people voted in the...
Read More
The Shoes of Peace: Stepping Into Purpose Instead of Panic
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Devotional, Top Stories

The Shoes of Peace: Stepping Into Purpose Instead of Panic

By Pastor Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ~ Colossians 3:15 ~ During my time in the Air Force around the year 2000, I had the wonderful opportunity to work as a high-ropes instructor for youth in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The high ropes courses were built to challenge people beyond their comfort zones — encouraging them to trust their harnesses, stay level, and keep moving with confidence. One day, I decided to take my son Jeremiah to one of the courses. We thought it would be a wonderful father-son adventure — a fun activity we could enjoy together. But as soon as he stepped onto the line, everything suddenly shifted. Fear overwhelmed him. Anxiety took ...
Read More
Mesa County sheriff appeals budget constraints that could cut 28 deputies
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Mesa County sheriff appeals budget constraints that could cut 28 deputies

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Mesa County Sheriff Todd Rowell appeared before the Board of County Commissioners on Nov. 6, 2025, to warn that this year’s budget proposal could undo nearly a decade of progress under the 2017 voter-approved 0.37% public-safety sales tax. The budget appeal on the third floor of the county administration building doubled as a press conference, drawing commissioners, staff and reporters eager to see what “doing more with less” means for Mesa County public safety. Sheriff Todd Rowell, right, speaks with Commissioner Bobbie Daniel and Undersheriff Matt King during the Nov. 6 budget appeal in Grand Junction. Rowell said the math no longer works. “I gave up five deputies to submit a flat budget… 13 more were defunded… $980,000 in line-item...
Read More
Colorado River reality check: The problem isn’t the compact, it’s overuse.
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado River reality check: The problem isn’t the compact, it’s overuse.

By Steve Harris | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice This is my final article on the centennial of the Colorado River Compact (CRC) and the 75th anniversary of the Upper Colorado River Compact (UCRC), collectively referred to as the ‘Compacts.’” In water time, the Compacts are not that old. I have been in the water business in the Colorado River basin for 50 years – half of the CRC’s life – and watched how people viewed the implications of the Compacts over time. The Compacts have gone from background documents to front and center of water discussions. Lake Mead Fall 2022, Photo Credit: John Norton There has been a lot of hand-wringing in the media and some groups about the CRC being based on 15 million acre-feet (MAF), even though at the time there was an assumed aver...
Read More
The Warning in New York’s Vote: A Nation Forgetting What It Knew
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

The Warning in New York’s Vote: A Nation Forgetting What It Knew

By C. J. Garbo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice New York’s decision to elect an openly socialist mayor is not an isolated event. It is a symptom - an unmistakable sign that one of America’s greatest cities is entering the next phase of a cycle human history has recorded with brutal consistency. Every society that embraced central planning, concentrated state power, or moral relativism eventually arrived at the same destination: decline, disorder, and suffering that could have been avoided had wisdom not been discarded for ideology. Human history is the basis for the prediction. Not fear. Not partisanship. History. Every civilization that tried to bend reality to political fantasy - rather than align policy with truth - followed the same trajectory. People tolerate rising cost...
Read More
NYC Will Learn That Socialism Doesn’t Work
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

NYC Will Learn That Socialism Doesn’t Work

By Russ Minary | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples’ money.”  — British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher On Tuesday, November 4, Zohran Mamdani was elected as Mayor of New York City. Mamdani is only 34, has never held a real job and openly claims to be a socialist. His Muslim faith was a major part of his campaign. In a city with a lot of Jewish citizens, he won with a majority of votes in a 3-way race. His campaign consisted mainly of a nice smile and a promise to make just about everything ‘free.’ Free transportation, groceries, housing, healthcare and childcare. But he didn’t explain who was going to pay for all of the ‘free stuff.’  NYC is about to experience one of its biggest crises, un...
Read More