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Victor Marx Calls for Water Storage Expansion and Modern Infrastructure
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Victor Marx Calls for Water Storage Expansion and Modern Infrastructure

By Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette Victor Marx, the Republican nominee for governor, took the spotlight Wednesday during the opening day of the Colorado Water Congress, laying out how he says the state should approach its water future. Marx told the standing-room-only audience in Steamboat Springs that he holds water rights himself, giving him a personal stake in Colorado’s water challenges. His proposed fix? More storage. “We can’t make it snow, we can’t make it rain, but we can decide whether we’re prepared for when the water comes,” he said. “So, I believe we should store water in good years. Wet years. Lord, please send it.” He said storage gives farmers and ranchers reliability, options for communities and reduces emergency decisions. “...
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Colorado Cities Wrestle With Costs and Benefits of Data Center Expansion
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Axios Denver, Approved, State

Colorado Cities Wrestle With Costs and Benefits of Data Center Expansion

By Alayna Alvarez | Axios Denver Colorado communities are taking dramatically different approaches to the boom in data center development, with a patchwork of moratoriums, incentives and new restrictions. Why it matters: The local experimentation is filling a vacuum left by state lawmakers, who failed last legislative session to agree on how Colorado should regulate the resource-hungry facilities. State of play: The fragmentation sets up another potential fight at the Colorado State Capitol next year over how to capture the upside of data center development without saddling communities with their enormous electricity, water and infrastructure demands. Driving the news: Denver — which already has 50 data centers — has&...
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Three laws, one result: A federal suit says Colorado and Denver leave some visitors no way to carry
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Three laws, one result: A federal suit says Colorado and Denver leave some visitors no way to carry

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice He says he passed a background check stricter than Colorado's. He holds a carry permit that is good in more than 30 states. He owns a second home in Weld County. And when Greg Howeth applied for a Colorado permit this spring, a Weld County employee called to tell him no — because he does not have a Colorado ID. That denial, delivered by email on May 28, is now Exhibit 2 in a federal lawsuit against the City and County of Denver, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, and five other officials.  Howeth, a South Carolina man named Zackary Dougherty, and the National Rifle Association filed the case in U.S. District Court in Denver on Aug. 12. Their claim is not that any single Colorado law is unconstitutional. It ...
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Colorado Graduated Tax Initiative Draws Major Support From Democratic Lawmaker’s Nonprofit
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Graduated Tax Initiative Draws Major Support From Democratic Lawmaker’s Nonprofit

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado DENVER – State Rep. Lorena Garcia, a Westminster Democrat, has been working overtime to ensure a progressive state income tax initiative makes it in front of Colorado voters this November, including donating big bucks via a tax-funded nonprofit to the issue committee charged with getting the measure on the ballot. If passed, Initiative 195 would raise the current flat tax rate of 4.4 percent to 7.4 percent for those earning more than $500,000, and increasing as incomes rise to a top rate of 8.4 percent for those earning more than $1 million. A majority of Colorado taxpayers might see a slight income tax reduction, with many eventually getting caught up in the graduated brackets, as they are not indexed for inflation. ...
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Colorado Rural Hospitals Fight to Survive as Costs and Regulations Mount
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Rural Hospitals Fight to Survive as Costs and Regulations Mount

By Thelma Grimes | Colorado Politics Editor’s Note: Colorado’s healthcare system is entering a period of accelerating instability — a “tsunami,” as multiple leaders describe it — driven by collapsing hospital finances, shrinking Medicaid reimbursements, disappearing services and a political fight over who is responsible for this unraveling. Healthcare Freefall is a multipart series examining how Colorado arrived at this moment, what H.R. 1 will do next and why communities across the state are bracing for deeper shocks. Healthcare Freefall Colorado’s rural hospitals are facing severe financial strain — with 75% operating on unsustainable margins and some worrying they may have to close. Southwest Health CEO John Theine said the situation is especially frustrating, given ...
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Socialist Melat Kiros Victory Exposes Growing Divide Among Colorado Democrats
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Axios Denver, Approved, State

Socialist Melat Kiros Victory Exposes Growing Divide Among Colorado Democrats

By John Frank | Axios Denver Two days after her upset in the Democratic primary for Colorado's 1st Congressional District, Melat Kiros stood with party leaders behind a banner that read: "Together We Win." Yes, but: Now she appears quite lonely. The intrigue: Some Democratic candidates are keeping their distance from the 29-year-old democratic socialist on the campaign trail. And at least three Democratic moderate candidates are vocally expressing concern about her candidacy. Why it matters: The box-out on Kiros exposes divisions in the Democratic Party and undercuts the party's unity messaging heading into the November midterms. State of play: Kiros defeated 30-year incumbent U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette by more t...
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This metro district charges 115 mills and is still behind on its bonds. A state audit found it isn’t alone.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

This metro district charges 115 mills and is still behind on its bonds. A state audit found it isn’t alone.

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Homeowners inside the Riverdale Peaks II Metropolitan District pay one of the highest tax rates of any special district in Colorado. Their metro district levied 115.019 mills in 2024, good for fifth place on a list of eleven districts statewide charging 100 mills or more. That levy pulled in $428,566 in property taxes for the year. Riverdale Peaks II is one of 19 districts that told the state, in their own financial filings, that they have been or will be unable to make principal or interest payments on their debt as those payments come due.  It taxes its residents at more than 100 mills and still reports to the state that it can't keep up with the full payments on its bonds. That combination is the core finding o...
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Colorado’s Citizen Initiative Process Faces Growing Influence From Deep Pockets
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado’s Citizen Initiative Process Faces Growing Influence From Deep Pockets

By Colleen Slevin | The Colorado Sun High cost of getting a measure on the ballot has given wealthy interests more power to push their agendas. Colorado loves its ballot questions, ranking among the top states for the most on the ballot. But voters also like to say no — a lot. In the over 100 years that Colorado voters have been able to petition to put questions on the state’s ballot, only 36% of the 256 questions that made it on the ballot have passed, according to a tally by the state legislature. Questions referred to the ballot by state lawmakers have done better, passing nearly 60% of the time. Between 1960 and 2024, Colorado had the third highest number of voter-initiated ballot measures, behind California and Oregon, according to John Mat...
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Lake Mead And Lake Powell Hit Historic Lows As Colorado River Crisis Deepens
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Lake Mead And Lake Powell Hit Historic Lows As Colorado River Crisis Deepens

By Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette In the past 10 days, both Lake Mead on the Arizona-Nevada border and Lake Powell roughly 300 miles northeast on the Utah-Arizona line have recorded their lowest water levels since the reservoirs were first filled. Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir and which supplies water to Nevada, Arizona and California, measured 1,040.4 feet above sea level on Aug. 7. The level has continued to drop since then. On Monday, the reservoir measured 1,039.83 feet above sea level, nearly 190 feet below full and down about 2 feet over the past 30 days. A year ago, Lake Mead stood at roughly 1,054 feet. Hoover Dam, which created Lake Mead, was built in 1935. The reservoir was last at full in 1983. If the reservoir loses an...
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One-party rule, one-way press access in Colorado
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

One-party rule, one-way press access in Colorado

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Complete Colorado Republicans in Colorado have, at best, a ”fraught” relationship with liberal local news media. Given this history, it’s probably not surprising that when Republicans refuse to talk to the progressive press, they enthusiastically spill ink over it. To wit, journalism professor Corey Hutchins, in a recent edition of his media newsletter, noted how Republican gubernatorial candidate Victor Marx denied some media outlets access on the night of the GOP primary, saying that his campaign chose not to rely on legacy media to tell its story. Think what you will about the maturity of Republicans or the news media, their squabbles hide something more important, especially given Colorado is run almost entirely by Democrats. Many Dem...
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