Rocky Mountain Voice

Menu

State

Dear Colorado Legislature: Here’s Your $1 Billion Cut List
No Comments
ScottKJames.com, Approved, Commentary, State

Dear Colorado Legislature: Here’s Your $1 Billion Cut List

By Scott K. James | Commentary, ScottKJames.com Colorado’s $1B budget hole isn’t rocket science – we found the cuts. From illegal immigration perks to bloated credits, here’s the fix. (And Yes, We Found It In the Couch Cushions) Colorado lawmakers are about to lock themselves in a special session cage match because they’ve managed to spend themselves $1 billion into the red. Cue the finger-pointing, cue the “hard choices” speeches, cue the “we just need more revenue” crocodile tears. Well, guess what? We did your homework for you. We found your billion. And unlike your staff memos written in bureaucrat-ese, this cut list is in plain English – with receipts. Brace yourselves, this will be long, but I’ll give you a TL, DR version right up front… TL;DR: Colorado’s ...
Read More
Trump Backs Jeff Crank in Colorado’s 5th District Reelection Bid
No Comments
State, Approved, The Gazette

Trump Backs Jeff Crank in Colorado’s 5th District Reelection Bid

By Ernest Luning | The Gazette President Donald Trump formally endorsed U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank’s bid for reelection on Tuesday, calling the Colorado Springs Republican a “Fierce Advocate for our America First Agenda.” Crank, a staunch Trump ally, is seeking a second term in the reliably Republican 5th Congressional District, whose border roughly coincides with that of El Paso County. The former podcaster and veteran political operative won election last year by a wide margin following nine-term Republican Doug Lamborn’s announcement that he wouldn’t seek another term. “Congressman Jeff Crank is doing a truly fantastic job representing the Great People of Colorado’s 5th Congressional District!” Trump said in a post to Truth Social, the social media site he controls. “Jeff is a F...
Read More
Lawmakers Pass The Buck On Budget Deficit Leaving Decisions To Governor Polis
No Comments
State, Approved, The Gazette

Lawmakers Pass The Buck On Budget Deficit Leaving Decisions To Governor Polis

By Marianne Goodland | The Gazette Most measures introduced for special session offer no clear plan to solve budget deficit. More than two dozen bills have been introduced ahead of Thursday’s special legislative session, where lawmakers will try to come up with nearly $800 million in budget cuts. What’s notably absent from the proposed bills so far is any clear plan for how those cuts would be made. Indeed, only one bill even hints at specific reductions — a proposal from Western Slope lawmakers to cut $264,000 from the state’s wolf management program and redirect that money to help pay for health insurance subsidies. There are two bills, similar in some regards, from members of the Joint Budget Committee, that deal with Gov. Jared Polis' authority to enact spending cuts whe...
Read More
Nexstar expands Colorado footprint with purchase of 9News parent Tegna
No Comments
The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Nexstar expands Colorado footprint with purchase of 9News parent Tegna

By Colorado Sun staff & wire report | The Colorado Sun Nexstar Media Group is buying broadcast rival Tegna, which owns 9News in Denver, for $6.2 billion, in a deal that would help strengthen its local news offerings. The transaction, if approved, will bring together two major players in U.S. television and the country’s local news landscape. Nexstar oversees more than 200 owned and partner stations in 116 markets nationwide today and also runs networks like The CW and NewsNation. Meanwhile, Tegna owns 64 news stations across 51 markets. In Denver, Nexstar owns Fox31, and Tegna owns NBC affiliate 9News and its sister station KTVD. Nexstar also owns the CBS affiliate in Grand Junction KREX and the Fox station KXRM in Colorado Springs. “The initiatives being pursued ...
Read More
Colorado’s bike theft crisis: Third-highest rate in the nation
No Comments
kdvr.com, Approved, State

Colorado’s bike theft crisis: Third-highest rate in the nation

By Spencer Kristinsson | FOX31 DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado residents are known for their love of the outdoors and active lifestyle. It should come as no surprise to see plenty of cyclists and bikes on the streets and trails around the state. What might be a surprise is how many of those bikes get stolen. A study by the cyclist training app, JOIN, analyzed the number of stolen bikes per state in the FBI database and the estimated value of the bikes stolen, which was converted into categories like median value, total value and average value. “A stolen bike is more than just a stolen asset — it’s the loss of the ability to cycle, to commute, and to train. The impacts can last for years due to the cost of replacing a stolen bike,” said JOIN in the study. The study found that C...
Read More
Two Cherry Creek High School seniors file ballot measure for automatic admission of top 10 percent grads
No Comments
DENVER7, Approved, State

Two Cherry Creek High School seniors file ballot measure for automatic admission of top 10 percent grads

By Adria Iraheta | Denver7 Initiative 81 aims to automatically admit the top 10% of graduates from every Colorado high school to state colleges and universities based on GPA. DENVER — Two Cherry Creek High School seniors are spearheading a proposed 2026 ballot measure that would automatically admit the top 10% of high school graduates to state colleges and universities. Starting senior year of high school can sometimes feel like a whirlwind. “You have to write your own college applications, prep for that, get all your homework done, keep your grades up,” said Cherry Creek High School senior Kiran Herz. But Herz and his classmate Jaiden Hwang are now adding another big project to their endless list of extracurriculars and admissions essays – they’re also trying to introduce a...
Read More
Colorado’s infrastructure report reveals more about politics than potholes
No Comments
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s infrastructure report reveals more about politics than potholes

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project ASCE leans on the Colorado Fiscal Institute and the Economic Policy Institute to understand TABOR? The Complete Colorado article linked at bottom details a recent report by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) which gave our state an overall C- rating on infrastructure. Quoting the article, "The ASCE report evaluates 14 categories of the state’s infrastructure, assigning a letter grade to each of the categories: Aviation, dams, rail (B-), bridges (C+), energy, public parks, wastewater (C), drinking water, solid waste, storm water, transit (C-), levees, schools, and roads (D+)." Sounds about right. The article goes on to detail some issues with the report. One of these is how the report misunderstands ...
Read More
Colorado State Board of Ed opens remote testimony: Parents urged to speak up
No Comments
ScottKJames.com, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado State Board of Ed opens remote testimony: Parents urged to speak up

By Scott K. James | Commentary, ScottKJames.com Colorado’s State Board of Education just made it easier to give public comment. Remote testimony is live – no excuses, no pants required, just show up and speak out. In a move so uncharacteristically efficient it might give some people whiplash, the Colorado State Board of Education has overhauled its public comment process to include remote participation. That’s right, no more schlepping to Denver or arranging your entire week around a three-minute mic drop. Whether you want to go full mom-rage or teacher-sass, now you can do it straight from your kitchen table. Public comments can now be made in-person or virtually using Microsoft Teams – no downloads, no fuss, and no excuses. This isn’t just a footnote buried in bureaucr...
Read More
Bill Proposes Pause On New Wolf Releases To Fund Health Insurance
No Comments
State, Approved, The Fence Post

Bill Proposes Pause On New Wolf Releases To Fund Health Insurance

By Rachel Gabel | The Fence Post A bipartisan bill seeks to reallocate funding for one year that would be used to capture and release another round of wolves in late 2025 or early 2026 to Colorado’s Health Insurance Affordability Enterprise which helps Coloradans lower their health insurance costs. According to the sponsors, by not bringing in new wolves into the state, Colorado can focus on managing the existing wolves more effectively and save significant financial resources. The bill is coprime-sponsored by Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Frisco, Sen. Marc Catlin, R-Montrose, Rep. Meghan Lukens, D-Steamboat Springs, and Rep. Matthew Martinez, D-Monte Vista, and is co-sponsored by a broad coalition of bipartisan legislators in both the Senate and the House. Gov. Jared Polis has called the...
Read More
Weiser Defends Censorship of Conversations Between Therapists and Clients at Supreme Court
No Comments
State, Approved, kdvr.com

Weiser Defends Censorship of Conversations Between Therapists and Clients at Supreme Court

By Ashley Michels | KDVR Fox 31 DENVER (KDVR) — The state of Colorado and a licensed counselor from Colorado Springs are each preparing to argue before the United States Supreme Court. Last week, the Supreme Court set the date for when it will consider a case from Colorado involving free speech. On Tuesday, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser filed the state’s merits brief, which lays out the state’s argument for why the court should rule in Colorado’s favor. “This is a broad principle and the principle that we are standing on is states have the police power right to protect our citizens against substandard care,” Weiser said in a virtual press conference. The case Chiles v. Salazar focuses on a 2019 state law banning conversion therapy for minors. Kaley Chiles, a licensed pr...
Read More