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El Paso Commissioner Applegate: America’s space advantage depends on keeping command in Colorado
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El Paso Commissioner Applegate: America’s space advantage depends on keeping command in Colorado

By El Paso Commissioner Cory Applegate | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice As El Paso County’s Commissioner for District 4, I am committed to advancing our community’s interests, security, and prosperity. Among our top priorities is ensuring that U.S. Space Command remains headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs. This is not just a local issue—it’s a matter of national security and global leadership in space. Peterson Space Force Base, located right here in our district, has long been at the forefront of military space operations. Its proximity to critical defense assets like Schriever Space Force Base, Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, and the Air Force Academy creates an unparalleled synergy. The integrated infrastructure and expertise in th...
Polis Vetoes Open Records Bill—But Conservatives Say It’s Too Little, Too Late
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Polis Vetoes Open Records Bill—But Conservatives Say It’s Too Little, Too Late

By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board Governor Jared Polis vetoed a controversial bill last Thursday that would have made it more difficult—and more expensive—for Coloradans to access public records. But transparency advocates across the political spectrum say his sudden concern about responsive governance contradicts years of actions that have consistently chipped away at public accountability. Senate Bill 25-077, sponsored by Sen. Cathy Kipp (D–Fort Collins), would have: Extended response deadlines for open records requests from three to five days, and up to ten under “extenuating circumstances” Allowed government agencies to bundle multiple requests from the same person to increase feesEliminated the first free hour of research time for follow-up requests Created diffe...
$170K in stolen vehicles recovered, 4 arrested in Utah–Colorado theft ring
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$170K in stolen vehicles recovered, 4 arrested in Utah–Colorado theft ring

By Heather Willard | Fox31 DENVER (KDVR) — The Garfield County Sheriff’s Office announced that four people were arrested last week for multiple automobile thefts that crossed the Colorado and Utah border. On April 15, Colorado and Utah law enforcement agencies were able to identify a suspect vehicle in eastern Utah. Law enforcement believed the suspects would return to Colorado in the early hours of April 16 with stolen vehicles. Law enforcement said they believe the suspects have used this tactic several times previously. On April 16, the Colorado State Patrol, Mesa County Sheriff’s Office and members of Special Problem Enforcement and Response, a multi-jurisdictional task force based out of Garfield County, located the suspect vehicles entering Colorado. Officers initi...
Bible sales up. Church attendance rising. Revival whispers loud.
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Bible sales up. Church attendance rising. Revival whispers loud.

By Debbie Kelley | Denver Gazette After years of more and more Americans claiming atheism, agnosticism or “nothing in particular” in religiosity, there are signs that the category is leveling off at 29% of the population, while at the same time, the continual decline of Americans who self-identify as Christians appears to have reached a plateau, according to a new study from Pew Research Center. Slightly more than 6 in 10 of the 36,908 respondents in the Religious Landscape Study released in February consider themselves to be Christians. Though that represents a 9-percentage-point drop from a decade ago, the stability is now a trend, Pew says. For the past five years, from 2019 through 2024, the Christian share of the adult population has remained between 60% and 64%, in...
Colorado’s wolf plan ignores the one thing wolves don’t: borders
Approved, National, State, The Fence Post

Colorado’s wolf plan ignores the one thing wolves don’t: borders

By Ali Longwell | The Fence Post Over the last month, two of Colorado’s latest gray wolf transplants were killed after crossing the border into Wyoming.  Colorado Parks and Wildlife expects these types of movements into other states from the reintroduced wolf population. The species is known for traveling long distances in search of food or mates.  However, once the wolves leave Colorado, they lose certain protections afforded to them by both state and federal laws. But just how those protections change, and what might happen to them, depends entirely on which way they travel. In Colorado, gray wolves are considered “state endangered” in addition to being listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act and as an experimental population under a ...
Colorado lawmakers consider live-streaming legislative committee hearings for first time
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Colorado lawmakers consider live-streaming legislative committee hearings for first time

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics The public has been asking for it for years, and it looks like it will finally happen. On Monday, the executive committee of the Legislative Council, comprised of six legislative leaders, looked at the cost of live-streaming videos of committee hearings at the Capitol. The discussion focused on a pilot program that would begin with the 2026 session. Should that move forward, Colorado would cease to be the only state in the nation that does not live-stream its legislative committee hearings. For years, the lack of live video streaming has been a problem for governmental transparency advocates and other members of the public. The cameras are already in the committee hearing rooms and used for remote testimony, so converting to live video ...
Lawsuits filed over student visa revocations in Colorado
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Lawsuits filed over student visa revocations in Colorado

By Gabrielle Franklin | Fox31 News AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) — In reaction to the Trump administration’s decision to terminate the visiting status for dozens of exchange students in Colorado, some of those students are suing the government. The attorney representing the local students said he is concerned that a recent wave of student visa terminations could violate the Constitution. “There are a number of individuals who are here on student status, studying at various universities in Colorado: whether it be Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado, really any of the major universities. There’s been a recent wave of terminations of their student records: their student and exchange visitor information systems records,” said Zachary New, a partner at Joseph and Hall immigration law f...
Lee and Friday: We saved our daughters—HB25-1312 would’ve punished us as child abusers
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Lee and Friday: We saved our daughters—HB25-1312 would’ve punished us as child abusers

By Erin Friday and Erin Lee | Wall Street Journal We are both mothers whose daughters went through a phase in which they believed they were boys. We never affirmed that belief, although their schools and much of the broader culture did. Eventually, our daughters recognized their true identities and ceased identifying themselves as “transgender.” A bill under consideration in Colorado (where Ms. Lee lives) would define parents like us as child abusers. The measure would harm vulnerable children and violate the U.S. Constitution in multiple ways. Lawmakers including state Reps. Yara Zokaie and Javier Mabrey have likened parents like us to Klansmen, and their legislation is expected to pass the state Senate and proceed to Gov. Jared Polis’s desk. A similar bill in California...
Anderson: Education dollars should help all students perform, while lawmakers focus on funding gender ideology
Approved, Commentary, State, The Business Times

Anderson: Education dollars should help all students perform, while lawmakers focus on funding gender ideology

By Christy Anderson | Commentary, Business Times Let’s look at the facts. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2024, only 36 percent of Colorado’s fourth-graders read at a proficient level, and just 42 percent are proficient in math. These numbers should alarm every parent, educator, policymaker and taxpayer. Beneath the surface of annual graduation celebrations lies a troubling reality: Many students are not prepared for life after high school. Colleges are restructuring their curricula to accommodate lower proficiency levels, and remedial classes are becoming the norm, not the exception. As an educator with 25 years of experience in Mesa County Valley School District 51 and a Realtor who works closely with families across our community, I’ve seen firstha...
Hancock: HB25-1312 replaces truth with dogma and calls it progress
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Hancock: HB25-1312 replaces truth with dogma and calls it progress

By Michael A. Hancock | Commentary, Colorado Politics From the rugged ridgelines of the Rockies now echoes a different kind of thunder — not from the skies above, but from the marble halls of Colorado’s State Capitol, where lawmakers are ushering in a bill that feels less like legislation and more like dogma. House Bill 25-1312, ostentatiously named the “Kelly Loving Act,” is heralded as a civil rights measure. But dig past the buzzwords and you’ll find something far more troubling: a secular creed imposed with such fervor it borders on religious zealotry — and as such, possibly violates the U.S. Constitution’s Establishment Clause. At the heart of the bill is a sweeping redefinition of “coercive control” in family law. If passed, courts would be mandated to treat “deadnaming” and...