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CPW Director Steps Down After Turbulent Wolf Reintroduction Fight
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

CPW Director Steps Down After Turbulent Wolf Reintroduction Fight

By Tracy Ross | The Colorado Sun Davis, who led reintroduction of wolves to Colorado, will move into an executive role in the Department of Natural Resources. Maj. Gen Laura Clellan will lead CPW until new boss is hired. The director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, who ushered in the state’s wolf reintroduction program amid widespread scrutiny over many of his decisions, is stepping down.  Jeff Davis announced Tuesday he will move to the Colorado Department of Natural Resources executive director’s office as a senior policy advisor for strategic priorities.  Replacing him as interim director is retired Maj. Gen. Laura Clellan, formerly the executive director of the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. She will start Dec. 1.  A statement from...
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Legislative transparency takes a hit as video livestream decision stalls
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State

Legislative transparency takes a hit as video livestream decision stalls

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Update-a-palooza on legislative livestreams and campaign finance complaints I wanted to update some stories I’ve been following before they get too stale (as you can see in today’s third post, I’ll be taking the rest of the week off). First, and simplest, is an update to whether or not the state legislature will continue what was a pilot program to livestream legislative committee hearings (video and audio instead of just audio). The Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition story linked first below offers more details, but the upshot is that the legislature is a decided “maybe” on whether or not to continue it. The livestreams, at least according to the article, are pretty popular but it seems the sticking point ...
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Colorado Does Not Need More Candidates. Colorado Needs a Future.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado Does Not Need More Candidates. Colorado Needs a Future.

By Sean M. Pond | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado is at a crossroads, and everyone living here can feel it. The cost of living has exploded. Families are working harder than ever yet falling further behind. Housing has slipped out of reach. Power bills climb. Groceries drain budgets. Fuel prices punish long commutes. Child care costs rival mortgages. Communities wonder how long they can stay in the state they love. All the while, the people in charge talk about saving the world while ignoring the people who actually live here, in Colorado.  We hear speeches about climate and national image. We hear big promises about transformation. We hear talking points that sound polished but solve nothing. What we do not hear is practical leadership. What we do...
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Phil Weiser’s Failed Experiment in Criminal Justice
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Phil Weiser’s Failed Experiment in Criminal Justice

By Mike O’Donnell | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice  It has become a common theme in many states and cities that the authorities who are responsible for the long-term safety and security of their residents, nevertheless subscribe to the popular fallacy that locking up criminals does little to deter future offenses and is less effective in the long run that social programs or rehabilitation efforts, however those might be defined.  The theory here is that criminals aren’t responsible for their actions, Society is primarily to blame.  The policies of Colorado’s attorney general, Phil Weiser, and the Democrat dominated Colorado legislature prove how foolish and misguided this theory is.  In 2019, the Colorado legislature eliminated the option of cash bail for...
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AI Review Flags Hundreds of Reporting Gaps for Griswold and Weiser Campaigns
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

AI Review Flags Hundreds of Reporting Gaps for Griswold and Weiser Campaigns

By: Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette Using artificial intelligence as analytical tool, a resident of Longmont has filed complaints against two prominent Colorado Democrats, alleging multiple campaign finance violations. The complaints are among a growing number of campaign finance allegations against individuals running for some of Colorado’s top jobs. What’s unique with the complaints is the use of AI as a data or analytical tool. On Nov. 20, Jeffrey Ethan Au Green of Longmont filed a complaint against Attorney General Phil Weiser, who is running for the Democratic nomination for governor against U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet. Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who is running to succeed Weiser, was the subject of a Nov. 2 complaint, also filed by Au Green. Four Democrats ar...
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Widow of Fallen Officer Urges Colorado to Close Loopholes in Competency Law
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kdvr.com, Approved, State

Widow of Fallen Officer Urges Colorado to Close Loopholes in Competency Law

By: Vicente Arenas | KDVR FOX31 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KDVR) — A Colorado woman is making an urgent appeal to the governor and legislators to change competency laws she says are putting people in danger. Rachel Swayse’s husband was the police officer who was killed in the Planned Parenthood clinic shooting on Nov. 27, 2015, in Colorado Springs. The accused shooter, Robert Dear, has been found incompetent to stand trial. University of Colorado, Colorado Springs Police Officer Garret Swasey was killed in the mass shooting. Officer Swasey’s wife, Rachel, is concerned that Dear and others in similar circumstances could go free under Colorado’s competency laws. “This has been a lingering concern of mine for years. We were told that the trial process could take years, and our...
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Data Breach Spurs Colorado Law Enforcement to Seek More Reliable Alert Systems
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Data Breach Spurs Colorado Law Enforcement to Seek More Reliable Alert Systems

By: Maggie Bryan | Denver7 CodeRED is an emergency alert platform used by dozens of Colorado agencies to notify residents about fire evacuations, active shooters, and weather advisories. DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. — Several Colorado law enforcement agencies say they're either terminating or reevaluating contracts with CodeRED, an emergency alert system, after the company fell victim to a cyber attack earlier this month. Crisis24, the company that owns the CodeRED platform, confirmed that data including names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and passwords of users signed up for alerts may have been leaked in the data breach. Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly said his office was not contacted by Crisis 24 until deputies tried to send out a CodeRED alert to residents ab...
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Colorado cuts health subsidies for illegal immigrants with lottery system deciding who keeps coverage
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Colorado Public Radio, Approved, State

Colorado cuts health subsidies for illegal immigrants with lottery system deciding who keeps coverage

By Mateo Schimpf | CPR News On Nov. 17, phones started lighting up at a first-floor office in north Denver. Hundreds of people wanted to know whether they had won the lottery, and if not, if they had other options. The callers were not looking for the winning Powerball combination. They wanted to know whether they would be able to afford health insurance next year. The days leading up to Nov. 17 were excruciating for Blanca, who’s 52 and a single mother, and whose last name we’re not using because of concerns she could be targeted by federal law enforcement due to her immigration status.  She’s among 12,000 undocumented Coloradans who received subsidies from the state to get free health insurance through the OmniSalud program in 2025. But she had to wait to see if she w...
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Thanksgiving prices fall in Colorado but families still pay more than most Americans
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Thanksgiving prices fall in Colorado but families still pay more than most Americans

By Shaina Cole | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice This Thanksgiving, the cost of celebrating for Colorado families is at its lowest since the peak in 2022. The American Farm Bureau Federation reports that a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for ten now costs $55.18 - a five percent decline from last year. Colorado continues to sit above the national average. According to KKTV, the same meal costs $61.63 in the state, which is about $6.45 more than what the typical American pays but still roughly $13 cheaper than the year before.  The West once again tops the chart as the most expensive region for Thanksgiving, with a $61.75 average that closely matches Colorado’s $61.63 estimate. That’s not a fluke; analyses of grocery spending show Western states, including Colorado, consisten...
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Stop Financing the Second Job
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Stop Financing the Second Job

By Christian Horstmann | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice When child care rivals your mortgage payment and eats the “extra” paycheck, having a stay-at-home parent is the wiser investment.  We’ve been told for years that homeschooling is impossible because “you can’t make it on one income.” But when families pencil out the math, a different picture appears: the second paycheck often pays for the costs created by the second job: child care first, then commuting, meals out, and the “time savers” that keep the overbooked household afloat. On paper, it looks like gain. In reality, it’s a trade.  Consider just one budget line that eats the pay raise: full-time child care. Across Colorado, the average monthly price is over $1,000; but in nine of our ten most populous count...
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