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Rose Pugliese elected new leader of Colorado House GOP caucus following Mike Lynch’s resignation
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Rose Pugliese elected new leader of Colorado House GOP caucus following Mike Lynch’s resignation

Pugliese, a Colorado Springs Republican, is in just her second year as a state representative, but she had been serving as assistant minority leader in the House By Jesse Paul | SOURCE: THE COLORADO SUN Republicans in the Colorado House of Representatives on Thursday elected a first-term lawmaker from Colorado Springs to be their new leader, replacing Mike Lynch, who stepped down from his leadership role a day earlier following revelations about his 2022 arrest on suspicion of drunken driving.  Rose Pugliese, a Colorado Springs Republican, is in just her second year as a state representative, but she had been serving as assistant minority leader in the House. She beat out state Reps. Matt Soper, R-Delta, and Ken DeGraaf, R-Colorado Springs, for the job in two rou...
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EDITORIAL: Cut bureaucracy at Colorado’s colleges
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Approved, gazette.com, State

EDITORIAL: Cut bureaucracy at Colorado’s colleges

By The Gazette Editorial Board | SOURCE: THE GAZETTE Each fall, Colorado parents have ever greater misgivings as they send another round of freshmen to the state’s colleges and universities. Foremost among their concerns has to be the skyrocketing cost of higher ed, with tuition ratcheting up year after year. The spiraling price of a college degree seems to outpace even inflation. Colorado students pay higher in-state tuition than the national average. There’s also a perception of chaos on campus, fostered by a culture in which fringe values are rendered mainstream. Professors and protesters alike have been known to harangue students for holding views that would be regarded as conventional anywhere off campus. Students have been denounced as racist merely for their skin color. And...
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Boebert faces first test in new district as firebrand fights for her political life
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Approved, denvergazette.com, State

Boebert faces first test in new district as firebrand fights for her political life

By Peyton Sorosinski, Washington Examiner | SOURCE: THE GAZETTE Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) will have to convince voters from her new district why they should send her back to Washington in Thursday’s first Republican primary debate. Boebert made the switch to the plains of Colorado's 4th Congressional District across the state from her mountainous 3rd District, which she is representing for a second term after narrowly beating Democratic challenger Adam Frisch in 2022. The two were slated to go head-to-head again this year before Boebert switched to the eastern Colorado district over uncertainties of whether or not she could beat him again. Despite her new district voting for former President Donald Trump, of whom she has been a staunch supporter, by 20 percentage poin...
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Polis, governors to Congress, White House: Make immigration deal
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, National, State

Polis, governors to Congress, White House: Make immigration deal

By Nicole C. Brambila | SOURCE: DENVER GAZETTE A cadre of Democratic governors — including Gov. Jared Polis — called on Congress and the Biden administration to reach a border security deal that includes funding to support states, such as Colorado, that are struggling to respond to the humanitarian crisis caused by an influx of immigrants crossing the border illegally. “We need Congress to take action to secure our border and pass comprehensive immigration reform,” Polis said in a news release. “States can’t do this alone. It’s time to put politics aside and deliver the real solutions and support that states like Colorado, and many others, need.” The group of nine governors urged Congress to quickly negotiate a legislative package that addresses border security and modernizes the ...
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Colorado GOP chair Dave Williams helped push House Republican Leader Mike Lynch to resign
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Colorado GOP chair Dave Williams helped push House Republican Leader Mike Lynch to resign

By Marianne Goodland | SOURCE: COLORADO POLITICS The chairman of the Colorado Republican Party helped in ousting House Minority Leader Mike Lynch, who announced on Wednesday that he is stepping down from his leadership post in the wake of mounting pressure after a DUI arrest in 2022 became public. Lynch did not disclose the arrest, which happened before he assumed the mantle of House Minority Leader, to his caucus, a sore point for his colleagues when the story broke last week. How big of a role Dave Williams played in Lynch's ouster is unclear. But the Republican Party official showed up at the state House on Tuesday and spoke with two members pushing for Lynch's resignation from leadership. Williams did not hide his animus toward Lynch in a text message on Wednesday to Colora...
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Top Republican in Colorado House steps down from leadership a week after news about his 2022 DUI arrest
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Top Republican in Colorado House steps down from leadership a week after news about his 2022 DUI arrest

House Minority Leader Mike Lynch, R-Wellington, announced his decision in an emotional speech on the House floor as his ouster appeared imminent By Brian Eason and Jesse Paul | SOURCE: THE COLORADO SUN The top Republican in the Colorado House of Representatives resigned from his leadership post Wednesday morning as his ouster appeared imminent a week after revelations that he was arrested in 2022 on suspicion of drunken driving. House Minority Leader Mike Lynch, R-Wellington, announced his decision in an emotional speech on the House floor.  “I am stepping down because it is the right thing to do — because I have become a distraction for my caucus and that is getting in the way of the hard work that we have to do in this building,” Lynch said.  Lynch...
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Caldara: Let’s bring back 4-year TABOR overrides
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Approved, completecolorado.com, State

Caldara: Let’s bring back 4-year TABOR overrides

By Jon Caldara | SOURCE: COMPLETE COLORADO PAGE TWO (You can listen to this column, read by the author, here.) The former head of the leftist ProgressNow Colorado, who is married to a U.S. congresswoman living in Jefferson County, has donated to the election campaigns of all three of the current Jefferson County commissioners. So, what a coincidence those same Jefferson County commissioners, all Democrats, are now going to pay him $180,000 to help dupe taxpayers out of TABOR refunds. As reported by the news site CompleteColorado.com (a project of Independence Institute, which I run), 7th Congressional District U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen’s husband, Ian Silverii, has just inked a spectacular deal from Jefferson County. His firm “won” a $340,000 con...
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Colorado has the nation’s third-longest waitlist for people charged with crimes and ordered into psychiatric treatment
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado has the nation’s third-longest waitlist for people charged with crimes and ordered into psychiatric treatment

The number of state-run psychiatric beds for people who are civilly committed or ordered by the criminal justice system shrunk by 20% in seven years, according to a new report By Jennifer Brown | SOURCE: THE COLORADO SUN Colorado has for years been short on in-patient psychiatric beds for people with severe mental illness, creating a backlog that means people wait months for care and sit in jail instead of a hospital. The last time the national Treatment Advocacy Center released a status report on the psychiatric bed shortage, Colorado placed 34th among states with 543 beds.  It’s only gotten worse in the past seven years, according to the center’s latest analysis, released Wednesday and based on 2023 data.  The number of psychiatric beds at Colorado...
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Governor removes Democrat from board that blocked Douglas County’s property tax cut, replaces him with Republican
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Governor removes Democrat from board that blocked Douglas County’s property tax cut, replaces him with Republican

Jared Polis took Bernie Buescher off the State Board of Equalization, giving Republicans a majority on the panel that reviews local property tax decisions By Jesse Paul | SOURCE: THE COLORADO SUN Jared Polis removed a Democrat he appointed to a state board that reviews local property tax decisions after the panel in December unanimously rejected Douglas County’s attempt to offer a $28 million tax break to homeowners. The governor blasted the State Board of Equalization’s decision at the time, and then last week took former Colorado Secretary of State Bernie Buescher off the panel and replaced him with Richard Sokol, an Englewood Republican, who sits on the board for South Metro Fire Rescue.  Polis’ swap not only sends another message about his dislike for the State Board o...
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Crime Wave Plagues Colorado, Small Businesses Suffer
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Approved, State, thelobby-co.com

Crime Wave Plagues Colorado, Small Businesses Suffer

SOURCE: THELOBBY-CO.COM In a recent City Council meeting, Aurora businessman Kenneth Shaw shared his personal stories of the escalating crime crisis that has plagued Colorado in recent years. Shaw, owner of a local car wash at Buckley, revealed the reality of his daily life, which now includes sleepless nights spent monitoring surveillance cameras to protect his business from criminals. Last August, Shaw's car wash became the target of a brazen truck ramming incident. The thieves planned to strike at the "heart of this operation," Shaw recounted. Although nothing was stolen during this incident, the repair cost amounted to a staggering $23,000. In November, another break-in occurred, resulting in the theft of $600 from a pay station. These are big loses for any small businesses...
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