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Colorado parents mobilize: New ballot efforts seek to strengthen safeguards for children
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Christian Home Educators of Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado parents mobilize: New ballot efforts seek to strengthen safeguards for children

By Colleen Enos | Commentary, Christian Home Educators of Colorado (CHEC) The Government Shutdown in our nation is now over as of last Wednesday, November 12. Our military, TSA workers, air traffic controllers, and federal workers are beginning to receive their paychecks that were due last month. In Colorado, 33,707 federal workers have been on furlough since the shutdown began. That is an incredible amount of people affected in our state, likely due to the large size of our military population here. Additionally, Colorado’s election results have furthered the class warfare in our state by raising taxes on higher earners to pay for universal school breakfasts and lunches, which are given to every child, regardless of need. Proposition MM also funnels some extra ca...
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Western Slope Wins State Support In Long Fight To Preserve Shoshone Water Control
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Western Slope Wins State Support In Long Fight To Preserve Shoshone Water Control

By: Shannon Mullane | The Colorado Sun The Colorado Water Conservation Board approved a proposal to use two powerful Colorado River water rights to help the environment. GOLDEN — In a momentous decision for the Western Slope, state water officials unanimously approved a controversial proposal to use two coveted Colorado River water rights to help the river itself.  Members of the Colorado Water Conservation Board voted to accept water rights tied to Shoshone Power Plant into its Instream Flow Program, which aims to keep water in streams to help the environment. The decision Wednesday is a historic step forward in western Colorado’s yearslong effort to secure the $99 million rights permanently. But some Front Range water providers pushed back during the hearings, worried ...
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Colorado Drug Bust Exposes Cartel Ties After 1,000 Pounds of Meth Seized
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Just The News, Approved, State

Colorado Drug Bust Exposes Cartel Ties After 1,000 Pounds of Meth Seized

By Natalia Mittelstadt | Just the News Of those indicted, 11 have been arrested, while four others remain at large. Fifteen people have been indicted in Colorado after roughly 1,000 pounds of methamphetamine was seized following a two-year investigation into a drug trafficking organization from Mexico operating in the state, according to federal officials. Of those indicted, 11 have been arrested, but four others, including the organization’s alleged leader, are still free and believed to be in Mexico, according to the Colorado U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Associated Press reported. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent in charge Dave Olesky said in a Wednesday news conference that the investigation revealed ties “to elements in Mexico involving the Sinaloa and Ja...
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Griswold Leads Democratic Secretaries of State Pressing DOJ and DHS Over Federal Use of Voter Data 
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Griswold Leads Democratic Secretaries of State Pressing DOJ and DHS Over Federal Use of Voter Data 

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold is leading a group of Democratic election officials challenging the Trump administration over how federal agencies are using requested voter roll data. Their concerns are detailed in a four-page letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The U.S. Department of Justice issued requests earlier this year for state-wide voter registration lists from multiple states, including Colorado.  In several cases, DOJ asked for “the full, unredacted statewide voter registration list, including registrants’ dates of birth, state driver’s license numbers, and last four digits of Social Security numbers.” Colorado’s request is documented in a May 12 lette...
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Advocates Urge State Leaders To Protect Vulnerable Residents From Budget Reductions
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Advocates Urge State Leaders To Protect Vulnerable Residents From Budget Reductions

By: Colette Bordelon | Denver7 For the second year in a row, Colorado is staring down a daunting budget deficit — and the governor believes cuts to Medicaid are one solution to balancing the budget. DENVER — With a budget deficit looming over the State of Colorado next year, one program in particular is under the microscope: Medicaid. A special session tackled some of the anticipated $1.2 billion budget shortfall, which was created in part by tax changes made in President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Act (H.R.1). As a result, Colorado will collect less revenue than expected when lawmakers approved the state budget in May. Some of that $1.2 billion revenue loss was absorbed by the state education fund and the affordable housing fund. Around $300 million that...
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Colorado Ethics Commission Probes 17 Democrats Over Vail Retreat Contributions
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Ethics Commission Probes 17 Democrats Over Vail Retreat Contributions

By: Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics The Colorado Independent Ethics Commission, on Tuesday, voted to move forward with investigations into 17 state Democratic lawmakers who have been accused of accepting illegal contributions to pay for an October retreat in Vail. Colorado Common Cause filed complaints against members of the Colorado Opportunity Caucus, a group of moderate Democrats in the General Assembly. The complaints are against: Sen. Lindsey Daugherty of Arvada, the group’s chair and Rep. Shannon Bird of Westminster. Bird has said she did not participate in the retreat, nor was she part of the conversation seeking $25,000 from One Main Street Colorado to pay for hotel rooms at the Sonnenalp Vail resort for the Oct. 3-5 retreat. She said in a statement Tuesday that s...
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Colorado’s Land Board swaps agriculture for a revenue experiment
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s Land Board swaps agriculture for a revenue experiment

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Acquiring the Lake Fork Ranch to expand “conservation opportunities”. I saw an interesting press release from our Governor recently. It’s linked first below.Quoting:“The Colorado State Board of Land Commissioners (State Land Board) has approved the acquisition of the approximately 800-acre Lake Fork Ranch, located just west of Leadville in Lake County.”Governor Polis, DNR Director Dan Gibbs, and State Land Board Director Nicole Rosmarino all gushed about the new acquisition. To save space, I attached their quotes from the press release as screenshot 1. The quotes here, touting success for rural communities (Polis) and preserving agricultural use (Gibbs), put me in mind of an earlier rundown of the Nat...
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Colorado State Land Board Approves La Jara Deal Aimed at Protecting Open Space
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The Fence Post, Approved, State

Colorado State Land Board Approves La Jara Deal Aimed at Protecting Open Space

By Rachel Gabel | The Fence Post After what seemed like a rock-solid deal was thrown into a tailspin by some commissioners, the Colorado State Land Board ultimately voted to sell the La Jara property, a deal that has unanimous stakeholder support that has been in the works for nearly a decade. Ultimately, the SLB commissioners, save for Commissioner Josie Heath, voted for the disposal of the property. The 46,000-acre La Jara property in the San Luis Valley will be sold to the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The USFS and the BLM will purchase 43,526 acres with $43.5 million appropriated through the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. The remaining 2,427 acres, around La Jara Reservoir, will be sold to CPW for $6.1 million. ...
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Colorado’s Uranium Prospects Return as America Seeks Reliable Fuel Sources
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado’s Uranium Prospects Return as America Seeks Reliable Fuel Sources

By Scott Weiser | The Denver Gazette Uranium mining in Colorado has a bright future. George Glasier believes that. From his cattle ranch near Nucla, Colo., where sagebrush valleys give way to rugged canyons, Glasier leads a company working to restart old uranium mines and build a new ore processing plant. This push comes at a pivotal time for an industry that’s endured decades of booms and busts. Uranium, the key material for nuclear power, was recently reclassified as a “critical mineral” by the U.S. Geological Survey under an executive order from President Donald Trump, who said he wants to “unleash” American energy. Formerly classified as a fuel source, uranium miners and refiners have not been eligible for the same kinds of taxpayer support offered to other mineral suppl...
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Colorado’s auto theft reckoning: A crisis we built, a crisis we can fix
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s auto theft reckoning: A crisis we built, a crisis we can fix

By RMV Editorial Board Colorado didn’t become the nation’s auto theft capital by accident. It got there through a decade of choices that treated working families’ cars like disposable assets. Lawmakers downgraded the theft of “low-value” vehicles to a low-level offense and sold it as reform. They never explained the part where families would carry the cost. Criminals understood the message right away. If the state didn’t take these thefts seriously, why would the offenders?  The surge pushed Colorado to No. 1 in auto theft back in 2021 and we didn’t fall far—No. 2 in 2023 and No. 4 in 2024—as neighborhoods kept paying the price in lost time and tighter budgets. State Patrol signals a shift What says more than any statistic is what the state is doing now. In a recent sta...
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