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Mourning or Margin? What the Silence Over Iryna Zarutska’s Murder Reveals About Media, Policy and Political Deadlock
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Mourning or Margin? What the Silence Over Iryna Zarutska’s Murder Reveals About Media, Policy and Political Deadlock

By C.J. Garbo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The brutal and senseless murder of 23‑year‑old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light rail train has been met not with widespread grief, but with unsettling silence. When a story like this fades from national coverage, especially after being shared widely on social platforms, it raises urgent ethical and political questions - questions the mainstream media seems unwilling to confront. A Refugee’s Promise Meets a System’s Failure Zarutska fled war-torn Ukraine seeking safety. Tragically, her fresh start ended in horror: she was stabbed to death by Decarlos Brown Jr., a 34‑year‑old man with at least 14 prior arrests, on August 22, 2025. Footage capturing the killing - which has shocked millions, revealed bystander...
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Day of Defense on Sept. 20 equips families to fight exploitation
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Day of Defense on Sept. 20 equips families to fight exploitation

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice To Corrigan, the Sept. 20 Day of Defense is more than an event. It’s part of a larger calling to rally Colorado around protecting children and restoring those who’ve been harmed. Colorado ranks tenth in the nation for human trafficking, despite being only 21st in population. That reality is what Abby Corrigan, CEO of the Colorado Faith Alliance, says drives her organization’s work. She believes the fight begins with a clear truth. “Pornography is the root issue of sex trafficking. America is the number one buyer of sex in the world… they are after our children and it all leads to trafficking in some form or another,” Corrigan said. Research supports Corrigan’s concern. One in three kids see hardcore porn by age 12 — most of them by acciden...
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Are there too many Grumpy Old Men Voters in Colorado?
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Are there too many Grumpy Old Men Voters in Colorado?

By Mike O’Donnell | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Every ten years the U.S. Census Bureau organizes a count of all the residents of the United States. This count includes citizens as well as non-citizens, and even those experiencing homelessness. The Census Bureau also provides annual updates to the decennial numbers using surveys as well as by tapping into government information they can easily access like data on births and deaths, federal tax returns, medicare enrollments, and statistics from the Social Security Administration. These annual updates serve many purposes and, in my case, one of them is to provide feedback on how accurate the Colorado voter roll is. Colorado switched to mail-in ballots in 2013 and is one of only eight states that conducts mail-in electio...
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The Sword of the Spirit: On the Offensive–Advancing with God’s Sword
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The Sword of the Spirit: On the Offensive–Advancing with God’s Sword

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” ~ Ephesians 6:17 ~ As a boy, I loved playing with swords. Sometimes I’d pick up a stick and pretend to be Robin Hood, while other times I engaged in lightsaber duels reminiscent of Star Wars. Our battles were always grand—filled with heroic moves, slow-motion falls, and victory speeches nobody requested. My two triplet sisters, Faye and Barbara, along with my little brother, Todd, were my sparring partners. We weren’t a medieval army, but when we started fighting, the backyard often turned into a battlefield in more ways than one. Someone always ended up ‘injured,’ usually me, and the rules often changed mid-fight to give the girls an advantage. ...
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Transgenderism, Firearms, and the Conservative Dilemma
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Transgenderism, Firearms, and the Conservative Dilemma

By C.J. Garbo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Rumors are circulating across social media that a future Trump administration might consider restricting firearm ownership for individuals who identify as transgender. These claims, unverified as of now, have sparked sharp reactions on both sides of the aisle. It is worth addressing them not just on the surface, but in depth (philosophically, constitutionally, and morally) because the core issues involved go far beyond gun rights or gender identity. They reach into what it means to be a free people governed by law, not emotion or political fear. The Conservative Tension: Rights vs. Reality Conservatives are rightfully proud defenders of the Second Amendment. We assert that the right to bear arms is a fundamental protection aga...
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Reduce Taxes BY Eliminating the Government Middleman
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Reduce Taxes BY Eliminating the Government Middleman

By Russ Minary | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice "The power to tax is the power to destroy." – U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall, 1819 In this article, I’ll explain and contrast how and why the American free market works differently and better than government (in many cases) using two free market American businesses you know: Amazon and Costco. NOTE: I am a Constitutional conservative and enthusiastic advocate of the free market wherever, whenever and in whatever ways possible. I don’t oppose all government, just that which is redundant, costly, over-regulated, complicated, unnecessary, or too oppressive and costly. Which is most of it. In the past, manufacturers, local retailers and their customers enjoyed friendly relationships. A middleman like a distribu...
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From ACIP to AAP: CDPHE proposes school vaccine rule shift amid 95% MMR goal
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From ACIP to AAP: CDPHE proposes school vaccine rule shift amid 95% MMR goal

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado is proposing a new playbook for school vaccines. The Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) plans to drop reliance on the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) — a CDC panel — and instead follow the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which has rolled out its own schedule and supports only medical exemptions. The shift coincides with CDPHE’s campaign to lift MMR rates from 88 to 95 percent, the herd immunity target, amid national upheaval and rising parental concern. Colorado’s health department is pushing new changes to school vaccine rules, and parents have less than two weeks to weigh in. CDPHE will appear before the State Board of Health on Oct. 15 to request a rulemaking hearing. Public comments...
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Douglas County sheriff defies Freedom From Religion Foundation after it targeted Grandparents4Kids story hour
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Douglas County sheriff defies Freedom From Religion Foundation after it targeted Grandparents4Kids story hour

By Steve McKenna, Grandparents4Kids Board Member | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice A funny thing happened on my way to my 60s. Concepts of tolerance my parents, teachers, and others taught me as a child evolved. In the 1960s, tolerance meant accepting others, not persecuting them because they were different from you or your friends. Now, in my 60s, it seems more about persecuting those who fail to tolerate to the satisfaction of a bullying minority of ideologues. Case in point. To celebrate “See You at the Library” on July 16, Grandparents4Kids, a nonpolitical group I am fortunate to be a part of, planned to have Douglas County Deputy Sheriff read Kevin Sorbo’s book “The Test of Lionhood” at a story hour presented at, but not sponsored by, the Highlands Ranch library. The book...
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HGTV Can’t Save Small Town America. Fort Morgan Proves it.
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HGTV Can’t Save Small Town America. Fort Morgan Proves it.

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice When HGTV came to Fort Morgan in 2023, we were promised a makeover, a shot at national attention, fresh energy, and maybe even prosperity. The pitch was simple: if a camera crew and a few celebrity designers could just spruce up our Main Street, our town would suddenly be “revived.” For a few weeks, it felt real. The Queen Lounge looked sharp. The Rainbow Bridge sparkled with new signage. Crowds packed into Mosqueda Delicacies for ice cream. Fort Morgan was on national TV, and that was supposed to mean something. But now, two years later, the cameras are gone, and the reality is settling in. The revival was short-lived, and the disappointment is palpable. HGTV didn’t just renovate buildings; they curated a narrative, one that fit the...
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Are you racist? The Durango School Board thinks so.
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Are you racist? The Durango School Board thinks so.

By Protect La Plata Kids | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Durango School District 9-R has spent heavily on a quiet plan to bring diversity, equity and inclusion policies into local classrooms. Attached to this commentary are invoices obtained through CORA requests to the district. They show the board paid Make It Plain Consulting more than $209,000 between 2021 and 2025. A combined file of the invoices can be viewed here. What the community didn’t realize is that the board’s long-term goal was to introduce Critical Race Theory under the banner of DEI. School board directors Kristen Smith, Erika Brown and Andrea Parmenter started by pushing a new resolution for the Durango 9-R Board of Education. As of July 2025, three Federal Civil Rights Complaints were filed against D...
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