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Colorado: Where Criminals Come to Stay and Play
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado: Where Criminals Come to Stay and Play

By Mike O’Donnell | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The FBI recently released detailed data on more than 14 million criminal offenses from calendar year 2024, reported to the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program by participating law enforcement agencies. More than 16,000 state, county, city, university, college, and tribal agencies, covering around 95.6% of the population of the United States, submitted data to the UCR Program through the National Incident-Based Reporting System and the Summary Reporting System. By overlaying Census Bureau population estimates on the FBI data for individual states and territories, a curious party (like yours truly) can see how many violent or property crimes occur per 100,000 people—and thus see how crime rates vary between states. Because th...
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“This is too important to improvise”: D49 superintendent says sports lawsuit seeks clarity
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

“This is too important to improvise”: D49 superintendent says sports lawsuit seeks clarity

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Superintendent Peter Hilts says protecting girls' athletic opportunity—and preventing boys from lifelong regret—is only part of the story. It's also about fixing incoherent policies and standing in the gap as adults. Colorado Springs’ School District 49 made headlines in May when it filed a federal lawsuit challenging the state’s anti-discrimination law and CHSAA’s transgender athlete policy. “We wanted to get in front of the coming legal conflict,” he explained in an interview with RMV. “We think this is too important to improvise.” The district’s enacted policy separates sports, locker rooms and team travel by biological sex—a direct clash with the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) and Colorado High School Activities Association (C...
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The Sword of the Spirit – Transformative Power
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Devotional, Top Stories

The Sword of the Spirit – Transformative Power

By Pastor Drake Hunter | Commentary, Elevating Life Church “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” ~ 2 Corinthians 5:17 ~ When I was younger, I was fascinated with Disneyland in Anaheim, California. My dad had worked there, and my mom had books on Walt Disney—how he dreamed up new worlds, turned them into concepts, and then made them a reality. We’d watch shows about the planning, the struggles, and the breakthroughs. Then we’d stand in the park itself, surrounded by castles, rides, and lands that once existed only in his imagination. What struck me most was how a vision didn’t just stay in one man’s head—it became a place his family and millions of others could experience and enjoy. That’s the kind of transformation...
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TABOR Didn’t Build the Potholes
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Substack, Top Stories

TABOR Didn’t Build the Potholes

By Michael Hancock | Commentary, Undercurrent Substack Bureaucracy and pet projects did — and it’s time to realign our priorities. Colorado’s roads crumble, our classrooms overflow, and every budget cycle we hear the same refrain: “It’s TABOR’s fault.” Critics of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights insist that this constitutional guardrail has starved government of the resources it needs to educate children, maintain infrastructure, and keep the state running. But what if the potholes and crowded classrooms aren’t a symptom of too little revenue, but of misplaced priorities? The truth is, Colorado’s budget has grown steadily for years. Billions more flow into the state’s coffers than a decade ago. Yet the very areas citizens rely on most—roads, schools, public safety—continue to lag. TA...
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When did the Upper and Lower Basin of the Colorado River become a thing?
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

When did the Upper and Lower Basin of the Colorado River become a thing?

By Steve Harris | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice And other insights from the 1922 Colorado River Compact negotiations Though I was not in attendance in 1922 (don’t laugh), the minutes of the negotiations are very thorough. At the first Commission meeting starting on January 30, 1922, the negotiations were centered on separating the Colorado River flow by the potential for irrigated lands in each state. Reclamation—only about 20 years old at the time—had made surveys of the potential irrigated lands in each state. The acreages are listed in the minutes of the first meeting. Miss the first piece? Read: “Harris Water Time” and the Colorado River Compact’s century of lessons Colorado River Commission delegates meet in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1922. Secretary of Commerce...
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The dangerous gentleman enters the race: Victor Marx launches gubernatorial bid
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

The dangerous gentleman enters the race: Victor Marx launches gubernatorial bid

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The crowd inside Phil Long Music Hall stood and cheered as Victor Marx made it official. On Oct. 1, the Marine veteran and founder of All Things Possible Ministries announced his run for Colorado governor, joined by local pastors, veterans and elected officials—backing his call to restore justice and public safety. Supporters throughout the night echoed a recurring phrase—“dangerous gentleman”—a term used to describe Marx’s combination of restraint, conviction and action. Platform rooted in personal experience A survivor of childhood abuse and a Marine Corps veteran, Marx has spent the last two decades leading international rescue missions through his nonprofit. “I’ve spent my life fighting battles most politicians wouldn’t dare face,” he ...
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“They don’t care”: Unleashed podcast spotlights Durango parents’ loss of trust
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

“They don’t care”: Unleashed podcast spotlights Durango parents’ loss of trust

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Hunter Opilla didn’t expect to speak at a school board meeting when his family moved to Durango two years ago. But after learning about the district’s gender bathroom policy—and the board’s decision to reverse a superintendent directive—he says he felt he had no choice. “Just blank stares,” Opilla recalled on a recent episode of Heidi Ganahl’s Unleashed podcast. “The board never responded to my emails.” Ganahl’s latest podcast brings together a concerned father and a charter school founder to unpack what they call a pattern of political overreach and parental exclusion in Durango Schools. The conversation echoes issues previously covered by Rocky Mountain Voice in its Dirty Dozen series and recent reporting on board transparency and trust. Th...
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Beyond the rhetoric: Schools, unions, and the battle for objective truth in education
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Beyond the rhetoric: Schools, unions, and the battle for objective truth in education

By Laureen Boll | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice In Part One, Laureen Boll examined how literacy challenges, COVID-era policies, and parental authority define Colorado’s education debate. In this second installment, she shifts focus to the role of schools, the influence of teachers’ unions, and the clash over objective truth — issues she argues will shape the outcome of this November’s school board elections. The Role of Schools DCSD recently voted in favor of requiring parental consent, or “opt-in,” for students to participate in the upcoming Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, also known as HKCS. HKCS is an anonymous survey that is offered to all school districts in the state every-other-year, and much of the information that’s collected from middle and high school students is...
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