Rocky Mountain Voice

Menu

State

What schools won’t say: The furry behavior Colorado families keep reporting
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, State, Top Stories

What schools won’t say: The furry behavior Colorado families keep reporting

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Rumors about students dressing as animals and disrupting classrooms have circulated throughout Colorado for years, sparking political fights, school board blowback and media denials. Some say the “furries in schools” narrative is a hoax pushed by conservative figures. But school records, parent testimony and disciplinary documents tell a more complicated story. First signs: When parents spoke up and were ignored The saga gained momentum in 2022 when more than two dozen parents in Jefferson County bombarded school officials with concerns. Darlene Edwards, a mother whose 14-year-old autistic son attended a local middle school, told CBS Colorado her son returned home upset, describing classmates in animal costumes scratching,...
Read More
Gaines: Subsidies save some—but in reality, they’re just wealth transfers
No Comments
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Gaines: Subsidies save some—but in reality, they’re just wealth transfers

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Let me start with a couple non-contiguous quotes from the article linked at bottom. “'By better using the heat beneath our feet to help us, we are leading the nation in innovative clean energy technologies that save Coloradans money, and protect our air quality. Investing in Geothermal heating technology increases energy reliability and serves as a low-cost energy source,' Polis said." “'Geothermal heating technology plays a huge role in helping Colorado reduce emissions from homes and buildings while saving Coloradans money on heating and cooling costs,' said CEO Executive Director Will Toor. 'It’s exciting to see so many innovative geothermal initiatives being made possible due to Colorado’s investment in this technolo...
Read More
Daniel: The state’s mandates, your money—and why counties are saying “Enough”
No Comments
Top Stories, Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Daniel: The state’s mandates, your money—and why counties are saying “Enough”

By Bobbie Daniel | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Imagine walking into a restaurant, and before you even look at the menu, someone else orders for the whole table. They choose the most expensive items, add dessert, and go for top-shelf drinks—and when the check comes, they quietly slide it over to you.  That, in a nutshell, is what the State of Colorado is doing to counties.  Every year, new laws and regulations roll out of the Capitol with noble names and lofty goals. But when it comes time to pay for them, the state shrugs and walks away—leaving counties, and local taxpayers, to foot the bill. It’s called an unfunded mandate, and it’s become one of the biggest threats to responsible government in Colorado.  In Mesa County, we’ve always believed in balan...
Read More
Colorado’s Medicaid growth is colliding with fiscal reality
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s Medicaid growth is colliding with fiscal reality

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer A new report from the Common Sense Institute (CSI) warns that Colorado’s Medicaid program is on an unsustainable path—driven by rapid expansion at the state level and compounded by shrinking federal support. The warning comes as lawmakers prepare for a possible special session to address the state’s growing budget deficit. State policy has driven major cost growth Since 2019, Colorado has enacted 182 healthcare-related laws, with 21 of them expanding Medicaid eligibility or benefits. According to CSI’s July 2025 report, these expansions alone add approximately $158 million in recurring annual state costs. In total, the new legislation contributes around $858 million per year in additional Medicaid-related spending. Only 36% of that new spend...
Read More
Feds Take Aim at Colorado Sanctuary Laws that Protect Illegal Alien Criminals
No Comments
State, Approved, denvergazette.com

Feds Take Aim at Colorado Sanctuary Laws that Protect Illegal Alien Criminals

By Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette The U.S. Department of Justice has filed an amended complaint against the state of Colorado and the city of Denver over sanctuary policies. The lawsuit was initially filed in May, but the amended complaint, filed last Friday, also targets the lawsuit filed last week by Attorney General Phil Weiser against a Mesa County deputy sheriff. The Weiser lawsuit alleges Deputy Alexander Zwinck shared information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement about a 19-year-old nursing student who was the subject of a traffic stop. The student was later picked up by ICE and detained for two weeks and released on bond. The Weiser lawsuit claims Zwinck broke Colorado laws that forbid Colorado state and local government employees from cooperating or s...
Read More
Colorado Ranchers Say Wolf Plan Built on Lies and Broken Promises
No Comments
State, Approved, The Coloradoan

Colorado Ranchers Say Wolf Plan Built on Lies and Broken Promises

By Miles Blumhardt | The Coloradoan PITKIN COUNTY — Distrust of Colorado Parks and Wildlife's implementation of the wolf recovery plan runs as deep as the Capital and Sopris creek drainages where longtime ranching neighbors Mike Cerveny and Brad Day run around 700 cattle combined. The two buddies from Wisconsin moved to the stunning Roaring Fork Valley about 30 years ago and have been steadily building their herds on leased ranches, unable to buy their own property due to the high cost of land 20 miles from ritzy Aspen. They admit there are plenty of challenges ranching among multimillion dollar homes steadily squeezing the ranches they lease. But the latest challenge is a gut punch that staggered the steady ranchers because it happened so quickly, secretly in conjunction with ...
Read More
Gaines: Instead of schools, state grants funded advocacy for equity, gay forestry—and ‘indigenizing’
No Comments
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Gaines: Instead of schools, state grants funded advocacy for equity, gay forestry—and ‘indigenizing’

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project In an earlier post (see the first link below), I mentioned a couple of state expenses to the environmental advocacy group Cultivando that had caught my eye in their TOPS expense report.The first was a line item for $500 labeled as "personal services -- professional" charged to the Colorado Energy Office (CEO). The other was a grant for $24,700 to Cultivando charged to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).I wrote in and got the records back for these expenses. I thought them interesting enough to share. Perhaps they're not big dollar amounts, but they are representative of the kinds of thought processes among policymakers and bureaucrats that put us in the financial state we're in--you know the state where we are short...
Read More
Colorado’s rural-urban divide revealed: 10 takeaways from the Rural Reckoning series
No Comments
The Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado’s rural-urban divide revealed: 10 takeaways from the Rural Reckoning series

By Vince Bzdek | The Gazette How bad is the rural/urban divide in Colorado? That’s what a team of reporters at Colorado Politics and The Colorado Network, our statewide collective of freelancers, set out to measure and understand. Through extensive interviews, data analysis and community voices, our journalists have documented the yawning gap between what rural areas contribute to the state through agriculture, energy production, tourism and outdoor recreation, and the attention, money and support they receive in the halls of the Capitol and the governor’s mansion. That gap has resulted in a host of unaddressed problems unique to rural Colorado. Our reporters also have found that culturally, the polarization between rural and urban has deepened so much that when it comes to pol...
Read More
Colorado Communities Kept in the Dark About New ICE Detention Plans
No Comments
State, Approved, The Colorado Sun

Colorado Communities Kept in the Dark About New ICE Detention Plans

By Taylor Dolven | The Colorado Sun All Walsenburg Interim City Administrator John Galusha knows about the plans for the long-closed private prison in the city he oversees is what he’s read in the news: Immigration and Customs Enforcement is considering reopening it to detain immigrants. And he’s not alone. Huerfano County Administrator Carl Young doesn’t know if the prison will reopen. And Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade and Hudson Town Manager Bryce Lange are similarly in the dark about proposed plans to reopen detention facilities in their communities. Most local government leaders reached for this story said the private prison companies that own the facilities wouldn’t need local government approval to reopen them as-is. But they would need local resources, like water ...
Read More
Critics Warn of Blackouts and Rising Costs as Polis Accelerates Green Agenda
No Comments
State, Approved, completecolorado.com

Critics Warn of Blackouts and Rising Costs as Polis Accelerates Green Agenda

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado DENVER — Information obtained by Complete Colorado shows that Gov. Jared Polis continues to double down on a 100 percent renewable energy plan for the state by 2040, despite late last year admitting his current plan is already on a dangerous course for energy ratepayers. In a letter obtained by Complete Colorado in October 2024, Governor Polis admitted he’s concerned Colorado is on track for the same large rate increases that are happening wherever “beneficial electrification” is tried, if the transition is not “carefully managed.” Yet, on July 16, the governor’s Clean Energy Office (CEO) held a Zoom meeting with as many 100 “stakeholders” to discuss further legislation in the coming year to push Colorado towards full decarbonization of the stat...
Read More

FD863768-0ACF-495E-9D21-2EF784DFFA6B[1]

Join us at RMV's Freedom Festival

Click Here for Tickets!

This will close in 0 seconds