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Colorado rebuilt how it votes twice. Its federal plan never caught up.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado rebuilt how it votes twice. Its federal plan never caught up.

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold has called the state's switch to mail-in voting a transformation of democracy. The federal election plan Colorado keeps on file describes an election system mostly built around precinct polling places. Both come from the state. One appeared in a 2023 news release celebrating the 10th anniversary of Colorado's vote-by-mail law.  The other appears in Colorado's official Help America Vote Act State Plan, which has not been updated since 2008 despite two major changes to how Coloradans vote and register. The issue surfaced through a HAVA complaint filed in February by Highlands Ranch resident Michael Cahoon and Wisconsin election researcher Peter Bernegger. At the May 11 hearing, they we...
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Colorado is cutting funding for its poorest students. The tool meant to replace it was suspended.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado is cutting funding for its poorest students. The tool meant to replace it was suspended.

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice In Colorado's smallest school districts, the ones tucked into rural towns, two state programs direct extra money each year to districts based on how many students live in poverty. They are not a lot, but they are specific. They are meant for those kids. And they are going away. The state is winding down two programs that have directed about $12 million a year to schools serving Colorado's highest concentrations of low-income students. One program was already repealed when the new fiscal year started. The other drops to half its current level July 1 and is eliminated in FY 2027-28.  The tool the state built to replace how it counts and funds at-risk students was suspended five weeks ago, after two years of data col...
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Name-calling inside the GOP is helping Democrats win
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Name-calling inside the GOP is helping Democrats win

By Shirley Bauer | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice For Review: What Is a “Shirley’s Swirly”?  “Shirley’s Swirly” (noun): An action using water to symbolically swirl bad thinking down a drain. It applies to a person, ideology, or organization that needs their “stinkin’ thinkin’” adjusted. No physical harm to any human or animal is ever involved.  Why This Swirly Exists  I started “Shirley’s Swirly” because of the growing attacks on Republicans in office. Those attacks haven’t slowed — they’ve intensified. Groups like RINO Watch, along with people calling themselves “Republicans” seem to enjoy smearing fellow Republicans more than focusing on winning against the Democrats. So today’s “...
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Colorado Wins FDA Approval To Import Lower Cost Drugs From Canada
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Colorado Wins FDA Approval To Import Lower Cost Drugs From Canada

By Jaclyn Allen | Denver7 Governor: program could save Coloradans up to $46 million over three years. DENVER — Colorado has won federal approval to import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada, a move Gov. Jared Polis says could save residents as much as 60% on certain medications. “This is a big step in the fight to push back against big pharma and bring lower-cost prescription drugs to Coloradans,” Polis told Denver7's Jaclyn Allen in an interview Monday. “It ain’t over yet, but it’s a big step.” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration signed off on Colorado’s application after years of back-and-forth between the state and federal officials. Polis said the push began with legislation he signed in 2019 authorizing the Department of Health Care Policy...
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CPW Kills Wolf Linked To Dozens Of Sheep Deaths In Northwest Colorado
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Approved, State, The Denver Gazette

CPW Kills Wolf Linked To Dozens Of Sheep Deaths In Northwest Colorado

By: Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette Wildlife officers shot and killed a wolf believed to be responsible for killing at least 22 sheep over the past year in a remote northwestern county, according to a state agency. The animal came from the Copper Creek pack and is the 15th wolf to die in Colorado in the past two years. It’s also the second wolf from the Copper Creek pack to be shot by Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff due to chronic depredation of livestock. Wildlife staff had been hunting for the wolf since last year and, at one point, believed they had shot it, but the animal survived and disappeared. In a statement, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said that “visual evidence obtained at the scene confirmed the removed wolf is the same one that was depredati...
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Children’s Hospital Restores Gender Care Services but Doctors Decline to Provide Treatment
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Children’s Hospital Restores Gender Care Services but Doctors Decline to Provide Treatment

By Jennifer Brown | The Colorado Sun Children’s Hospital Colorado was forced to resume gender-affirming care through a court order, but the doctors who work there won’t do it. Children’s Hospital Colorado said Monday that it was resuming gender-affirming care for transgender youth after it was forced to do so by a court order, but that none of its doctors are willing to actually provide the care.  The announcement means the hospital is complying with the court order and yet, transgender kids and teens will not get care from the doctors who work at Children’s TRUE Center for Gender Diversity, a clinic that provides prescriptions for hormone therapy and puberty blockers. The Aurora hospital does not perform gender-affirming surgeries for patients under 18 and never has...
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Colorado Gun Rights Group Challenges New Firearms Dealer Law in Court
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Gun Rights Group Challenges New Firearms Dealer Law in Court

By: Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics A firearms group has filed a lawsuit challenging a recently signed law expanding regulations for firearms dealers in Colorado. House Bill 26-1126 clarifies that firearms dealers must hold both a federal and state license to operate. The bill also allows the Department of Revenue to fine dealers up to $100,000 for second or subsequent violations of certain requirements. Additionally, HB 1126 expands record-keeping requirements to apply to all firearm purchases, rather than just pistols and revolvers. It includes certain requirements for gun shops, such as that dealers must safely store large-capacity magazines, have certain security features on all doors and windows and be equipped with an alarm system that includes video s...
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Wolf opponents ask federal officials to revisit Prop 114 after Keshel report challenges 2020 result
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Wolf opponents ask federal officials to revisit Prop 114 after Keshel report challenges 2020 result

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The fight over Colorado wolves has landed in a federal review process. Opponents of wolf reintroduction are asking federal officials to reconsider Colorado's wolf program after submitting a report that claims Proposition 114 did not actually pass. Colorado Conservation Alliance filed the report June 5 with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service during a federal review of Colorado's gray wolf program. Michael Clark, chairman of Colorado Conservation Alliance and CEO of Petrox Resources, signed the submission. The filing takes aim at a message Clark says Coloradans have heard for years. "The message has been both constant and assertive, Colorado's wolf program is 'the will of the people' because Proposition 114 passed," Clark wrote to U.S. F...
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An open letter to the 10th Circuit on free speech and the First Amendment
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

An open letter to the 10th Circuit on free speech and the First Amendment

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project The 10th Circuit of Court of Appeals got it wrong on free speech -- an open letter Similar to what Lincoln said of himself — I’m a slow walker but I don’t walk backwards — I often get busy with life and have to shelve writing projects without letting them go. I wrote back in early May about a decision rendered by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on legislative immunity. That newsletter is linked first below. The second link is to the judge’s decision. At the time, I wrote the clerk of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals and asked how it was that one could send in feedback to the judges on their decision. The clerk said that you can either email them to [email protected], or mail them to the ...
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