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Opt-in vs opt-out: The parental rights debate over the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Opt-in vs opt-out: The parental rights debate over the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Where do you land as a parent: opt in vs. opt out? The article below is about a recent Douglas County school board decision about participation in the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey. This is a survey that, quoting the article, includes topics such as “... physical activity, mental health, tobacco and substance use, and school safety and bullying. The high school survey includes demographic questions about sexual orientation, sexual health and sexual violence questions.” It also has questions on teens’ perceived access to guns. The board didn’t vote to not participate, they moved the decision to take it from opt in to opt out. Going forward, parents will have to allow their students to participate rather than rememberin...
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Colorado Takes Hard Line on Casino Cheating, Launches Lifetime Bans
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Canon City Daily Record, Approved, State

Colorado Takes Hard Line on Casino Cheating, Launches Lifetime Bans

By: Noelle Phillips | Canyon City Daily Record The state's Limited Gaming Control Commission launched the 'involuntary exclusion' list in 2024. Serial swindlers and men prone to violence are among the seven people Colorado’s gambling regulators have banned for life from casinos since the state created a system last year for barring problem bettors. The Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission in July 2024 added the first person to its “involuntary exclusion” list, which is posted online and distributed to casinos in Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek so security officers and other casino workers can identify the offenders and eject them if they show up to gamble. Those on the list are also prohibited from placing wagers on sports betting apps. “...
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Two doors and an insurance policy: Inside the legal backstops in Tina Peters’ October 16 hearing
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Two doors and an insurance policy: Inside the legal backstops in Tina Peters’ October 16 hearing

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice After more than four years of courtroom battles and appeals, former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters’ fight now hinges on a single federal question: whether Colorado courts violated her constitutional rights by denying her bond pending appeal.  The Oct. 16 motions hearing was part of a broader federal proceeding stemming from Peters’ Application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus filed in February. That petition asks the U.S. District Court to determine whether her ongoing detention violates the Constitution. It argues that the state’s denial of bail pending appeal punished Peters for her speech, violated her First and Fourteenth Amendments, and ignored the federal obligations that she says guided her actions as Mesa County Clerk under the Supremacy ...
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Federal Judge Overturns Jury’s Verdict, Stirring Outrage in Colorado
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Commentary, State

Federal Judge Overturns Jury’s Verdict, Stirring Outrage in Colorado

By: The Gazette Editorial Board | The Denver Gazette The Trump administration ordered payroll cuts to the bloated federal bureaucracy, and Colorado sued. The administration tried to rein in a runaway budget by paring funding for public broadcasters — which Congress ultimately carried out — and Colorado sued again.  And just this week, a prominent, left-leaning Colorado federal judge lashed out at President Trump’s Justice Department over its “bad faith conduct” — for scheduling an alleged illegal immigrant’s deportation hearing just a day after he challenged his detention in court.  Heavens — we can’t have speedy justice!  In other words, the administration is taking a beating from our state’s ruling class for doing the very things everyday Coloradans have always...
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Colorado Officials Admit “Unacceptable” Error That Freed Parolee Before Deadly Chase
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CBS News, Approved, State

Colorado Officials Admit “Unacceptable” Error That Freed Parolee Before Deadly Chase

By Jesse Sarles | CBS Colorado The Colorado Department of Corrections says a mistake made by their department allowed a man who violated parole to walk free. That ultimately is what led to Tuesday's chase involving law enforcement and head-on crash which resulted in the death of an innocent person. The double fatal crash happened on Highway 6 in Clear Creek County. Steven Ainsworth, 51, died when his car got knocked into Clear Creek by the car Christopher Moore, 29, was driving. Both men died and a woman in the car with Moore was hurt. CDOC officials now say Moore, who had a lengthy criminal record, should have been behind bars. Most recently, in 2022, he was sentenced to prison in criminal cases from Summit County and Eagle County. On June 9, he was released on parole. ...
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A small river with big influence: How the La Plata shaped western water law
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

A small river with big influence: How the La Plata shaped western water law

By Steve Harris | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Editor’s note: If you’re just joining the Water Time Reflections series by Steve Harris, this is Part 4 of 6 marking 100 years since the Colorado River Compact. Earlier pieces traced how the compact was conceived, debated, and ultimately divided the river. Here, Harris turns to the lesser-known La Plata River Compact—another milestone negotiated in 1922 that shaped interstate water law. The La Plata River Compact is also over 100 years old. It was negotiated between Delph Carpenter from Colorado and Stephen Davis from New Mexico during 1922 and finalized at Bishop’s Lodge in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I could not find minutes or detailed information on the negotiations between Carpenter and Davis and so relied upon informa...
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Gov. Polis Reassesses AI Regulations After Business Backlash
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Gov. Polis Reassesses AI Regulations After Business Backlash

By: Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics For the second time in as many years, Gov. Jared Polis has appointed a working group to address the issues around the state’s 2024 law on artificial intelligence. The law, which Polis signed despite major misgivings last year, is still not ready for prime time. The implementation date for the new law, as set by lawmakers in the August special session, was moved from Feb. 1, 2026, to June 30, 2026, providing a little more time for the tech industry and consumer groups that have been at odds over the law to come to a consensus. Whether that’s doable is another question, given that the first working group spent the last half of 2024 trying to work out differences. The working group’s final report indicated more areas of disagreem...
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Colorado’s “Budget Crisis” Rings Hollow Amid EV Giveaway Surge
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s “Budget Crisis” Rings Hollow Amid EV Giveaway Surge

By: Jon Caldara | Commentary, Complete Colorado Colorado’s governor just made this statement “The market has made it clear, EVs (electric vehicles) are here to stay.” I agree with him. Electric cars, unlike 8-track tapes and rotary-dial phones, will continue to be available to consumers for a long, long time. Cool. But why he made the statement puzzles me. He did so while touting his decision that the state will increase one of its subsidies to buy a new EV from $6,000 to $9,000. Wait a second. Which one is it? Has the market made clear electric vehicles are “here to stay”? Or do we need to increase the EV subsidy by a third to keep its market alive? And it begs another question: If the state is in a budget crisis, why spend our very scarce money buying people cars instead...
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Colorado’s “wildlife threat” plan could threaten agriculture instead
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s “wildlife threat” plan could threaten agriculture instead

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I smell a Rosmarino I had a couple readers bring a recent US Forest Service (USFS) draft assessment about the Comanche National Grasslands (SE Colorado) to my attention. I didn’t have time to get to it, but I was happy to see that Rachel Gabel of the FencePost did. The reality is that she did a better job than I could have hoped to. Her lengthy rundown on the issue is linked below and is well worth reading. This is particularly the case if you are worried about efforts at conservation and species restoration spilling over into (or being used intentionally for) a way to stop other uses of public lands. I’ll leave it to you to get the details, but from what I read, this assessment smacks of the kinds of rewilding/co...
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