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[UPDATED]: The $13 billion cost of fentanyl to Colorado’s families, budgets and communities
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, State, Top Stories

[UPDATED]: The $13 billion cost of fentanyl to Colorado’s families, budgets and communities

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice [UPDATED – July 3, 2025]: This story has been updated to include comments from Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly on Colorado’s fentanyl laws and enforcement challenges. Each Colorado taxpayer carries the burden of the fentanyl crisis, and in 2024, that amounted to about $2,220 per resident. A June report from the Common Sense Institute estimated the total cost for Colorado at $13.1 billion. This financial burden becomes reality in emergency healthcare services, preventative programs and lost productivity. But there’s also the deep emotional toll on families shattered by addiction and loss. Despite rising pressure to prevent overdose deaths and target traffickers, a 2024 bill to increase penalties for fentanyl posses...
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Colorado 2026 progressive ballot push would double income tax on top earners
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denvergazette.com, Approved, State

Colorado 2026 progressive ballot push would double income tax on top earners

By Marissa Ventrelli | Denver Gazette Voters could see a proposal to more than double the income tax of Colorado residents who earn at least $1 million, which would raise more than $1 billion each year from this category of taxpayers.  The proposal also seeks to decrease the tax obligation of people who earn $100,000 or less, while maintaining the rate for residents whose income falls in between those two prongs.   Colorado has a flat income tax rate. Assuming the proposal made it to the ballot and voters approved it, Colorado's top marginal rate would rival the highest-taxed states in the western region, rivaling Oregon and approximating California. Several of Colorado's neighbors — its direct economic competitors in the region, notably Nevada and Texas — don'...
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Denver judge blocks ICE request over state privacy law, leaves unaccompanied minor safety in limbo
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denvergazette.com, Approved, State

Denver judge blocks ICE request over state privacy law, leaves unaccompanied minor safety in limbo

By Marianne Goodland | Denver Gazette A Denver district court judge has issued a preliminary injunction to prevent a division within a state agency from complying with a subpoena issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The injunction is a step that will now lead to a trial on the merits of a lawsuit filed by a state division chief. Notably, the judge's injunction only applies to that state division and the court appears to allow the governor to comply with the ICE subpoena. In his order, Judge A. Bruce Jones said the subpoena would require state employees to violate state laws signed in 2021 and 2025 by disclosing personally identifiable information to federal immigration officials. The ICE subpoena was issued administratively, not by a court or judge, and that w...
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State official testifies against Polis in data-sharing dispute with ICE
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DENVER7, Approved, State

State official testifies against Polis in data-sharing dispute with ICE

By Danielle Kreutter | Denver7 DENVER — A whistleblower who accused Governor Jared Polis of ordering state employees to hand over personal information to federal immigration officials testified in court on Tuesday. Scott Moss is a licensed attorney and the director of the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics in the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Earlier this month, he filed a lawsuit in Denver County Court, alleging that he was ordered by the governor to turn over information about people providing homes to unaccompanied minors to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in compliance with a subpoena. Moss believed giving ICE the information would violate state laws that ban state and local government agencies from sharing personal information with f...
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Trump administration investigating Colorado’s Medicaid spending on illegal immigrants
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Trump administration investigating Colorado’s Medicaid spending on illegal immigrants

By Jennifer Brown | Colorado Sun The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid requested detailed information from the state Medicaid program as it investigates “fiscal integrity” The Trump administration is launching an investigation into Colorado Medicaid spending on undocumented immigrants, an extensive data request from federal officials reveals.  The 11 pages of requested information, which The Colorado Sun obtained through the state open records act, asks about Colorado spending and policies, and seeks personal information about Medicaid claims during the past three months, including patients’ immigration status.  In an email accompanying the data request, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it intends to review claims that Colorado submitted ...
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Garbo: The optics of ‘reason’ are working—and Republicans keep helping
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Garbo: The optics of ‘reason’ are working—and Republicans keep helping

By C. J. Garbo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Outside of the state legislature in the world of the average voter, Colorado Democrats have deftly positioned themselves as the calm, steady voice in a chaotic political environment. Their latest press release condemning the Douglas County Home Rule initiative - from CDP Chair Shad Murib and County Democrat Chair Meg Furlow - follows a long, deliberate pattern: contrast Republicans’ chaos with Democrats’ reason.  It’s politics distilled for those unversed or fatigued by ideology. A Seasoned Pause Amid Schoolyard Chaos Remember the rancor surrounding the school board meetings in Douglas County? Heated rhetoric. Personal attacks. Ostracism of dissenters. In that frenzied atmosphere, Democrats stepped in as the adults in...
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The COvid Chronicles June 1–7, 2020: Struggle sessions and Stockholm syndrome rewrite the rules
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State, Top Stories

The COvid Chronicles June 1–7, 2020: Struggle sessions and Stockholm syndrome rewrite the rules

By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board In this seventh chapter of COvid Chronicles, Contradictions defined the week. Rioters roamed, elites applauded and Denver’s institutions bent the knee. Officials called for systemic change—just not to their own hypocrisy. No, it’s not short. Neither was the damage—to downtown, to public trust or to the truth. As a dark pall fell over what little of downtown Denver hadn’t been destroyed or defaced by the George Floyd riots, the reckoning intensified at the foot of the Rockies. If the first week of June taught Coloradans anything, it was that COVID had become an afterthought. In its place came the fallout from the Floyd frenzy, which demanded real victims of harassment and havoc abandon the truth of their Orwellian ordeal, bow to the altar of ...
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Camp Wins Battle Against Colorado Department of Early Childhood Gender Identity Mandates
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State, Approved, CBS News

Camp Wins Battle Against Colorado Department of Early Childhood Gender Identity Mandates

By Austen Erblat | CBS News A Christian camp in Bailey is dismissing a lawsuit against the Colorado Department of Early Childhood as part of a settlement, in which the agency says religious organizations are exempt from a rule dealing with gender identity. Camp IdRaHaJe filed the lawsuit in federal court against Lisa Roy, executive director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, and Carin Rosa, director of the department's Division of Early Learning Licensing and Administration, in May. The camp said that a requirement from the department that camps allow children to use facilities that align with their gender identity violates the camp's longstanding practices and their religious freedom. The policy at the time asked the camp, "to choose between upholding its Biblical bel...
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$440/month? Colorado homeowners crushed by soaring insurance bills
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

$440/month? Colorado homeowners crushed by soaring insurance bills

By Sarah Horbacewicz | CBS Colorado Homeowners insurance is getting more expensive, and in a high-risk state for hail and wildfires, some Coloradans are feeling the financial pinch. Rocky Mountain Insurance Association says Colorado ranks second in the nation for hail insurance claims and ranks second for the number of homes in high-risk wildfire areas. Colorado also has the sixth-highest homeowners insurance premiums.  In the 25 years she's lived in Broomfield, Melinda Endres says she's never seen a bill like this June's mortgage. "I thought it was a mistake. I thought, are you kidding?" Endres said, "We get this letter saying that it's going to increase to over $2,000 now, and that's more than $300 a month." So Melinda said she called her broker, and they told her tha...
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DMV Digs Deeper: Colorado Drivers Slammed With New Fees
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State, Approved, DENVER7

DMV Digs Deeper: Colorado Drivers Slammed With New Fees

By Robert Garrison | Denver7 DENVER — You should expect to pay more on your next trip to the Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles, as the agency said inflation is forcing costs to go up. The agency announced on Monday that it will be raising several fees, including those for driver's licenses, ID cards, license plates, record searches, and some vehicle license plates and registrations, starting on Monday and Tuesday of next week. The DMV stated that the fee increases are necessary due to inflation. The following charts break down the planned fee increases: Frequently used DMV Services and Fee Adjustments Effective June 30, 2025: License Plate Fee Adjustments effective July 1, 2025 READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT DENVER7
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