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Polis explained both commutations in writing. One drew a party revolt.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Polis explained both commutations in writing. One drew a party revolt.

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Democrats organized a censure push over Tina Peters. No comparable campaign emerged over the commutation of Brandin Kreuzer. On the same day Gov. Jared Polis commuted Tina Peters' sentence, he granted clemency to a man convicted of shooting a Douglas County sheriff's deputy during a 2008 crime spree. Peters drew a formal complaint signed by hundreds of Democrats, an impeachment call and a sitting U.S. senator's rebuke. The other commutation drew none of that. No party complaint. No impeachment call. No signature drive. Polis put both of his reasons in writing. Two letters, one day Brandin Kreuzer was charged with attempted first-degree murder of a peace officer and convicted of first-degree assault, along with second-degree kidnappi...
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Nearly 500 Democrats move to censure Polis. His own party meets Wednesday to decide what to do.
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State, Rocky Mountain Voice, Top Stories

Nearly 500 Democrats move to censure Polis. His own party meets Wednesday to decide what to do.

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The Colorado Democratic Party's central committee meets Wednesday to decide what to do about its own governor. In front of it is a formal complaint, signed by hundreds of Democrats and growing by the hour, asking the party to censure Gov. Jared Polis for commuting Tina Peters' sentence. The signers are not asking a court to undo the commutation. They are not asking the legislature to reverse it. They cannot.  Colorado's constitution gives the governor sole clemency authority, and neither the courts nor the legislature nor the party can take back what Polis already signed. What the signers want is for the party to declare that one of its own governors acted against its interests, to bar him from its marquee events and to say publicly ...
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‘If this bill passes, we’re moving’: How a Colorado veteran became a political voice online
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

‘If this bill passes, we’re moving’: How a Colorado veteran became a political voice online

By RMV Staff | Rocky Mountain Voice A Colorado Springs defense worker who never wanted to be in politics now says the only place left to win back gun rights in this state is a federal courtroom — and that the window is open right now. Nicholas, the veteran behind the YouTube channels Big Timber Lodge and Big Timber Armory, told Heidi Ganahl on the latest episode of Unleashed that he spent more than a year building legal packages for the U.S. Department of Justice, asking it to sue Colorado over its firearm laws. In early May, the DOJ filed suit. Colorado’s gun restrictions moved faster than gun owners could fight them in state court, where judges are appointed under Democrat governors. Now the Trump administration’s Justice Department, not a Colorado plaintiff, is suing the st...
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Colorado Lawmakers Close 2026 Session With Greater Government Control And Higher Fiscal Risk
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Close 2026 Session With Greater Government Control And Higher Fiscal Risk

By Jake Fogleman | Complete Colorado The Colorado legislature officially adjourned May 13, after weighing more than 600 bills over the course of 120 days. Lawmakers entered the 2026 legislative session facing a set of familiar problems: another billion-dollar budget deficit, rising voter frustration over affordability, and growing concerns about Colorado’s economic competitiveness and business climate. Yet despite those warning signs, the Democrat-dominated legislature largely doubled down on the same governing philosophy that has increasingly defined the Capitol in recent years—more fees, more special interest tax benefits at the expense of other taxpayers, and more attempts to carve revenue streams out from under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). To be sure, not...
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The parent-child bond is not the government’s to break
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

The parent-child bond is not the government’s to break

By Colleen Enos | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Each morning you kiss your 12-year-old daughter goodbye while sending her off to school. You trust that her teachers care about her and are nurturing her mind, not hiding things from you. Weeks later, you discover your once-bright child is now anxious, isolated, and medically altered, because her trusted teachers have secretly counselled her to take life-altering hormones while keeping you in the dark—the mother who loved her, sacrificed for her and would lay down your life to protect her.  This scenario isn’t rare; it’s unfolding in schools nationwide. When the state severs the sacred parent-child bond, it doesn’t just break families; it assaults the natural rights that shield every American’s liberty and the rule of ...
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Colorado Supreme Court Orders Hospital To Resume Transgender Treatments For Minors
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Supreme Court Orders Hospital To Resume Transgender Treatments For Minors

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics The Colorado Supreme Court, by a 5-2 vote, ordered Children’s Hospital Colorado on Monday to resume providing certain medical services to a group of transgender plaintiffs, which it had ceased in the face of funding threats from the federal government last year. The unusual appeal before the Supreme Court stemmed from a trial judge’s rejection of a preliminary injunction to four trans plaintiffs who are minors seeking treatment from Children’s Colorado. The plaintiffs filed a class action alleging that the cessation of services based on their status violates the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act. While multiple considerations inform whether a judge should grant an injunction, the Supreme Court’s majority concluded the plaintiffs wer...
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Rural Colorado Communities Back Iran Strategy Even As Gas Prices Climb
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Pikes Peak Courier, Approved, State

Rural Colorado Communities Back Iran Strategy Even As Gas Prices Climb

By Reuters | Pike's Peak Courier WIGGINS, Colo. • Perched behind the cash register at Stubs liquor store, Amy Van Duyn gazed out the window at a red-and-green gasoline price sign, which she said seemed to tick up daily. The price was $4.34 per gallon — about 50% higher than it was in these parts when President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year. “I used to fill my tank for $36,” said Van Duyn, 42. “Now $36 gets me half a tank.” Her co-worker Tonyah Bruyette said when it’s time to buy groceries, she’s left wondering where all her money went: “We’re putting it in the tank rather than on our table.” Like most people in and around Wiggins, a farming town of 1,400 people in northeast Colorado, Van Duyn and Bruyette remain ardent supporters of t...
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Three minutes at the microphone: What Colorado’s 2026 session really looked like
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Three minutes at the microphone: What Colorado’s 2026 session really looked like

By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board From housing fights and election battles to late-night hearings and grassroots backlash, the 2026 session left many Coloradans questioning where decisions are really made. Arrive early. Sign up fast. Wait six hours. Get three minutes at the microphone. By April, Colorado citizens had learned the Capitol routine. Parents waited to testify on parental rights and gender policy bills. Survivors of child trafficking described years of trauma while lawmakers debated sentencing standards. Gun owners warned against expanding red flag authority to what Senate Bill 26-004 would ultimately define as “institutional petitioners”—a category now including schools, healthcare facilities and behavioral-health entities authorized to seek firearm se...
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Some food for thought on conservatism, common sense and political identity
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Some food for thought on conservatism, common sense and political identity

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Some food for thought... One pattern I see in math and physics is how fruitful it can be to test and inquire into basic assumptions we all have. A look at what it means to count things alongside a look at infinity leads one to the intriguing idea that there is more than one kind of infinity, for example. The Rocky Mountain Voice piece linked below was also intriguing to me, and for that same reason. I’ll leave it to you to read it, but some interesting (if not entirely new) themes are there. Is common sense common? Is a self-evident truth self-evident to us all? What does it mean to be conservative? Is that changing? I wrote in the past about being liberty minded though not a party adherent (see the sec...
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Colorado Moves Toward Month Long Voting Under New Elections Bill
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado Moves Toward Month Long Voting Under New Elections Bill

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun Another provision in House Bill 1113, a major elections bill headed to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk, would let the governor declare a disaster emergency if there is a major election disruption. Election Day is about to become election month in Colorado.  A bill headed to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk would let county clerks begin mailing ballots to registered voters 29 days before Election Day, up from 22. Clerks would have to finish mailing out ballots no later than 25 days before an election, up from 18.  State Rep. Emily Sirota, a Denver Democrat and lead sponsor of House Bill 1113, said the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office and elections advocates asked for the change because they are worried about the Trump administration ...
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