Rocky Mountain Voice

State

Parker: We need a national, armed citizen militia now
Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Parker: We need a national, armed citizen militia now

By Dale Parker | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice I am not surprised at the result of the efforts of people in our state to banish firearms. No one should be surprised at the open contempt for our God given rights, protected in our Bill of Rights, that was demonstrated by requiring Ken DeGraaf to cover part of our Constitution. There is no remedy for this at the state levels.  We have to go on the offense and enact recognition of these God given rights to self protection.  The way our 2nd Amendment was penned has been glossed over for 200 years because there was no need after the American Revolution to flesh out what the Founders intended. It was recognized and taken for granted that the right to possess all arms belonged to the citizens of our country and not j...
With 12 new laws, Colorado Democrats treat gun ownership like a public threat
Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

With 12 new laws, Colorado Democrats treat gun ownership like a public threat

By Jesse Paul | Colorado Sun From limiting who can purchase most semiautomatic rifles on the market today to raising the minimum age to buy ammunition, Democrats in the legislature were busy this year imposing new gun regulations Democrats in the Colorado legislature this year passed a dozen bills imposing new gun regulations, all of which were signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis. They included measures limiting who can purchase most semiautomatic rifles on the market today, raising the minimum age to buy ammunition and aiming to improve Colorado’s response to mass shootings. While some don’t go into effect until next year, and a few are sure to draw legal challenges from gun rights groups, they represent some of the most wide-reaching changes to Colorado’s firearms laws ever a...
DOJ requests Colorado’s 2020 and 2024 voter data—Griswold’s ‘Gold Standard’ gets tested
Approved, kdvr.com, National, State

DOJ requests Colorado’s 2020 and 2024 voter data—Griswold’s ‘Gold Standard’ gets tested

By Heather Willard | Fox31 DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado’s Secretary of State revealed Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Justice asked Colorado to turn over all records that relate to the 2024 federal elections and preserve all records from the 2020 election. The election official sent an email highlighting reporting by NPR, which said the DOJ request was made on May 12. “What they’re going to do with all this data, I don’t know,” Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, told NPR and shared with FOX31 via email. “But I’m sure they will use it to push their ridiculous disinformation and lies to the American public.” Colorado elections noticed by Trump admin previously Colorado’s elections have been heralded by Griswold and other officials as being the “gold ...
June 11 CPW meeting highlights failure to share data: “Producers left in the dark”
Approved, State, The Fence Post

June 11 CPW meeting highlights failure to share data: “Producers left in the dark”

By Rachel Gabel | Fence Post Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commissioner Tai Jacober said it’s “ugly” right now for Pitkin County livestock producers. In the June 11 CPW Commission meeting, he said when a particular pack of wolves, the Copper Creek pack, were causing problems for livestock producers, CPW and the commission made decisions that have landed the wolves and the producers again, in a problematic situation. Jacober criticized the decision to go “against the management plan and capture the wolves, went further against the management plan and rereleased the wolves, and here we are today.” “Not only is it a blunder on the agency, it’s a blunder on the wolves, and it’s really difficult on the ranchers,” he said. “It seems we’ve removed one wolf — a yearling wolf that was kicked...
Jacques: Colorado’s speech police aren’t protecting rights—they’re punishing dissent
Approved, Commentary, State, USA Today

Jacques: Colorado’s speech police aren’t protecting rights—they’re punishing dissent

By Ingrid Jacques | Commentary, USA Today Colorado has threatened to sic the thought police on anyone who doesn't comply by using state-approved language about transgender people. You’d think that after two significant losses at the U.S. Supreme Court, Colorado would tread more carefully with its anti-discrimination laws.  No such luck. A new law, signed by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis in May, expands the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act to make deadnaming and misgendering transgender individuals a punishable offense. California, not surprisingly, has tried something similar but on a more limited basis. The updated Colorado provisions have already attracted lawsuits on the grounds that the law violates the U.S. Constitution, includ...
Critics warn Polis’ immigration law oversteps Constitution, ignores federal authority
Approved, completecolorado.com, State

Critics warn Polis’ immigration law oversteps Constitution, ignores federal authority

By Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado DENVER—Despite repeated claims that Colorado is not a “sanctuary state” for illegal immigration, Gov. Jared Polis on May 23 signed a bill into law that both reinforces and expands Colorado’s existing protections for immigrants living in the country illegally. Senate Bill 25-276, Protect Civil Rights Immigration Status was a top priority for majority Democrats in the state legislature as they continue their attempt at isolating Colorado from the Trump administration’s deportation policies, with the bill picking up a remarkable 46 prime and co-sponsors on its way to passage. Expanded protections Colorado state law already limits interaction and information sharing between local and federal officers. However, SB 276 extends this measure to proh...
Polis defends ICE data release as criminal investigation matter, but documents raise doubts
Approved, Axios, State

Polis defends ICE data release as criminal investigation matter, but documents raise doubts

By Alayna Alvarez, John Frank | Axios Legal pressure is mounting against Democratic Gov. Jared Polis after revelations that he ordered state officials to comply with an ICE subpoena and hand over personal data of undocumented children in Colorado to federal immigration agents. The latest: Colorado WINS — the union representing more than 27,000 state workers — civil rights group Towards Justice and labor organization Colorado AFL-CIO announced Monday they're joining as plaintiffs on a whistleblower lawsuit filed last week by Scott Moss, a senior labor official in Polis' administration. The groups accuse the governor of "colluding" with ICE agents and violating multiple state laws that restrict cooperation with federal immigration enforcement...
Priced out, packed in: Colorado renters squeezed by costs, policy gridlock and population growth
Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Priced out, packed in: Colorado renters squeezed by costs, policy gridlock and population growth

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado’s affordable housing crunch – especially in the rental sector – has been building for years. Reports from the Common Sense Institute and Bell Policy Center trace the tipping point to around 2015, when demand consistently began outpacing supply. The last decade has seen rising home prices, stagnant wages and insufficient new construction which has made the situation worse due to recent immigration pressures and allegations of resource allocation issues. Origins and escalation of the crisis Bell Policy Center noted a statewide rental rate increase from 30.9% in 2009 to 34.8% by 2022, with urban counties like Denver reaching 50.1%.  In just a year, Colorado slipped further down the affordability scale, now rank...
Gazette editorial board: Time to repeal the delivery fee feeding Colorado’s bloated government
Approved, Commentary, denvergazette.com, State

Gazette editorial board: Time to repeal the delivery fee feeding Colorado’s bloated government

The Gazette editorial board | Commentary, Denver Gazette Do you use DoorDash for lunch or maybe Uber Eats for dinner? How about Amazon, FedEx or any of the other delivery services — for just about everything else? Probably. Have you ever noticed a 29-cent “retail delivery fee” on your tab once your order was fulfilled? Probably not. After all, it’s only a fraction of the price you paid for whatever was delivered, so even if you did see it, you likely shrugged it off as just another one of the taxes assessed on your order. Which, in reality, it is. But technically, it’s not a tax; it’s a “fee” that was slapped on deliveries by the Legislature in 2021. And because it was designated as a fee in statute, it didn’t require statewide voter approval as a tax would under our state c...
Colorado ranks 5th in nation for work hours—high cost of living a key factor
Approved, kdvr.com, State

Colorado ranks 5th in nation for work hours—high cost of living a key factor

By Brooke Williams | Fox31 DENVER (KDVR) — Coloradans spend more time on the clock than people in most states in the U.S., according to a new report. Qualtrics XM, a data tool for businesses, released a report in March analyzing what percentage of the past year people spent working. The study used data from the American Time Use Survey, conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, for all 50 states. A handful of states had fewer than 10 survey responses and were excluded from the main story, but were included in a separate list. Where do people spend the most time working? According to the report, people in these states spent the highest percentage of their past year working: Utah: 25.17% Mississippi: 23.89% North Carolina: 23.51% Alabama: 23.44% Co...