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Colorado Lawmakers Advance Parole And Sentencing Changes in an Effort to Reduce Prison Population
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Advance Parole And Sentencing Changes in an Effort to Reduce Prison Population

By Taylor Dolven and Rae Solomon | The Colorado Sun It’s unclear if the measures will be enough to offset the need for reopening one or two prisons. Colorado lawmakers passed two bills Thursday and are still considering a third aimed at reducing the state’s prison population, which has ballooned to the point where Gov. Jared Polis is recommending reopening up to two prisons. It’s difficult to say whether the bills, which Polis has yet to sign, can cut the prison population enough to offset the Department of Corrections’ space needs this year. But they represent the legislature’s latest effort to reduce the number of incarcerated Coloradans, which has increased 19% since 2021 even as crime rates have fallen. “This is part of the bigger conversati...
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Colorado’s Republican governor primary: Where Kirkmeyer and Bottoms stand, and Marx stays silent
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s Republican governor primary: Where Kirkmeyer and Bottoms stand, and Marx stays silent

By RMV Editorial Board | Rocky Mountain Voice Three candidates will appear on Colorado's Republican primary ballot for governor on June 30. Two of them answered questions from Rocky Mountain Voice this month. One did not. State Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer and State Rep. Scott Bottoms each responded to questions drawn from reader submissions and issues facing Republican primary voters. RMV contacted the Marx campaign repeatedly. RMV founder Heidi Ganahl followed up personally and extended his deadline by an additional day. He still did not respond. Bottoms won the top line at assembly with 45 percent of delegate votes. Marx qualified with 39 percent after also filing petition signatures, which lowered his assembly threshold. Kirkmeyer qualified through petition alone, submitting mor...
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Common Sense, Conservatism, Parties and Other Meaningless Words
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Common Sense, Conservatism, Parties and Other Meaningless Words

By Russ Minary | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” —Inigo Montoya, “The Princess Bride” People use words like common sense or conservatism. Here’s the problem: either words have precise meanings in certain contexts, or they mean precisely nothing. In this article, I’ll put some definitions around a few words – to create some objective truth for a dialogue among reasonable people. Good people can disagree, but so can bad people. First, common sense is a false premise. People often say, “Well, that’s just common sense!” But they can’t precisely define the term they just used. Thus, they provide no truth for what they suggest is truth which makes no sense. If common sense did exist, the majority of p...
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Colorado Lawmakers Shift Strategy Push New Conversion Therapy Bill After Supreme Court Ruling
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Shift Strategy Push New Conversion Therapy Bill After Supreme Court Ruling

By Lucas Brady Woods | The Colorado Sun House Bill 1322 would allow patients to sue for damages if they suffer harm from conversion therapy, a controversial practice aimed at changing someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Dylan Scholinski creates their art in a creaky, old building in north Denver. A large studio space is packed with their work from over the years, including a set of mixed-media illustrations depicting dark, contorted figures. “This is like a hallway of the institution with the rooms, the room doors,” Scholinski said, flipping through several of them. The illustrations are based on Scholinski’s experience in psychiatric institutions as a teenager, where they underwent conversion therapy, a controversial practice meant to change some...
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$100K Income Now Falls Into Lower Middle Class Bracket In Colorado
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kdvr.com, Approved, State

$100K Income Now Falls Into Lower Middle Class Bracket In Colorado

By Alix Martichoux | KDVR (NEXSTAR) – A six-figure income used to be shorthand for “rich.” Now, it’s barely enough to get by in many parts of the country, including Colorado. And it’s not just California and New York where families are feeling the pinch. The rising cost of housing, childcare, groceries – and well, just about everything – has stretched households’ income further and further. Even big earners have found themselves living paycheck to paycheck. In a dozen states, a household income topping $100,000 isn’t considered particularly high. When compared to other earners, it’s actually considered “lower-middle class,” according to an analysis by MoneyLion. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT KDVR
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Colorado Senate Bill 135 Trades TABOR Refunds for Limited School Funding
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado Senate Bill 135 Trades TABOR Refunds for Limited School Funding

By Nash Herman | Commentary, Complete Colorado Colorado state senators recently engaged in more debate over Senate Bill 135, ultimately passing the measure and sending it over the House for consideration.     The bill sends a ballot measure to voters this November, exchanging billions of dollars in Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) refunds for a relatively small increase in education funding.  The Senate debate was enlightening in showing which amendments the bill sponsors supported and more importantly, those they did not.  For the kids (but not too much) One might think that the logical mechanism of a bill titled “State Public K-12 Education Funding” would be to increase revenues and direct the new money to C...
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Nuclear Energy Proposal Divides Colorado Democrats And Environmental Groups
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Nuclear Energy Proposal Divides Colorado Democrats And Environmental Groups

By Michael Booth | The Colorado Sun Colorado bill would set a nuclear permitting czar, help utilities find a location, and allow them to charge customers for $20 million in studies. A major effort to smooth the way for a return to nuclear-generated power in Colorado gets a first hearing Thursday in a legislative committee, as boosters of the out-of-favor technology claim growing energy demands and better design prove the time is right for a revival.  The state’s longstanding coalition of nonprofit groups that advocate for environmental and economic justice, meanwhile, vow a united front against the nuclear-friendly effort, and say some of their allies have betrayed the clean energy cause in favor of risky economic development.  House Bill 1337, up for deb...
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Judge Barrett denies Tina Peters bond, calls future appeals “frivolous”
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Judge Barrett denies Tina Peters bond, calls future appeals “frivolous”

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Tina Peters will not be released from custody. Judge Matthew Barrett denied her renewed motion for bond pending appeal Tuesday morning—two days after refusing to step aside from her case. The nine-page order keeps Peters in prison while her legal team prepares to take the bond question to the Colorado Court of Appeals, the same panel that threw out her sentence earlier this month. Barrett did not hold a hearing. He found he could not conclude Peters is unlikely to flee, called her future appeals "frivolous" and said they would be pursued "for the purpose of delay." "Finality is critical to the resolution of the judicial process," Barrett wrote, "and it would be contrary to the law to ignore the reality that Defendant would use all mean...
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The $3M campaign behind Colorado’s CoCo rail tax proposal
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

The $3M campaign behind Colorado’s CoCo rail tax proposal

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice The Colorado Department of Transportation had options when describing what $3 million in state transportation funds would buy. Public education. A feasibility study. Community engagement. It called it a Ballot Access Plan. That language — "develop a Ballot Access Plan and Implementation of the Plan" — sits in the purpose clause of a contract which took effect on March 26, 2026 between CDOT and the Front Range Passenger Rail District, the latter established by the legislature in 2021 to plan and eventually build passenger rail along the I-25 corridor. RMV obtained the contract through a public records request. If voters approve a sales tax increase this November, the district would use those funds — along with money ...
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The golden rule of government: Who controls the funding shapes Colorado education policy
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Christian Home Educators of Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

The golden rule of government: Who controls the funding shapes Colorado education policy

By Colleen Enos | Commentary, Christian Home Educators of Colorado We have all heard the Golden Rule, based on Matthew 7:12, which commands that we treat others the way we would like to be treated. But have you heard of the Golden Rule of Money? This rule says that “He who has the gold makes the rules.” It is a truth based on ownership of resources, which we should be very familiar with here in Colorado. The part-time homeschool enrichment public funding conversations happening under the golden dome in Denver are an incredibly clear example of this golden rule. The Joint Budget Committee (JBC) has asked for a bill* to be drafted that addresses Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) operating programs outside their member districts, defines “instructional time,” and clarif...
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