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“Your Transaction Cannot Be Completed At This Time.”
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

“Your Transaction Cannot Be Completed At This Time.”

By Maria Orms | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice That’s what my banking portal told me when I tried to send $1,500 through Zelle for a personal transaction. I was below my daily limit. Everything was correct. And yet, my money was blocked. When I called customer service, the interrogation began. The agent asked who I was sending the money to. I said I did not have to disclose that. He insisted Zelle was blocking the payment and could not lift the block unless I answered. After repeated prodding, I reluctantly said it was a personal friend. Next came the question of the purpose of the transaction. Again, I refused. He cited fraud prevention. I confirmed the payment was legitimate, but the questioning continued: “Is this for a loan, an investment, a product, or what?” I fi...
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Colorado Colleges Push Back On Bill Cutting Student Aid To Private Schools
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Colorado Colleges Push Back On Bill Cutting Student Aid To Private Schools

By Jessica Porter | Denver7 A last-minute amendment added to HB26-1345 prohibits state financial aid or work study programs for students at private institutions. DENVER — Colorado universities and students are speaking out against a bill moving through the state Legislature that would cut off financial aid to students who attend private universities. “We're really focused on the students and the need of those students to make college a possibility, to help their dreams come true,” said Catherine Rhode the Associate VP of Admissions and Financial Aid at Regis University. “Our neediest students in the state of Colorado are going to be impacted by this loss of funding.” HB26-1345 will modernize the higher education funding model by expanding eligibility for quali...
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Colorado Lawmakers Renew Public Utilities Commission Authority But Sidestep Reform Debate
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Renew Public Utilities Commission Authority But Sidestep Reform Debate

By Mark Jaffe | The Colorado Sun Xcel, Black Hills, some businesses backed failed attempts to amend the bill to grow the commission to 5 members in the interest of “ideological diversity.” Facing rising utility bills, clean energy mandates and new demands for power, especially from data centers, a chorus of utilities and business groups is united saying the Colorado Public Utilities Commission needs an overhaul. In part, the push appears to be prompted by some controversial commission decisions. On Saturday, Republican lawmakers tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill dealing with the routine reauthorization of the commission to expand the three-person panel to five members. “We’re simply not getting a good representation on the PUC with three people,” said Rep...
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GOP Opposition Halts Last-Minute Bill Challenging Natural Gas Amendment
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

GOP Opposition Halts Last-Minute Bill Challenging Natural Gas Amendment

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics Colorado lawmakers pulled back plans to counter a proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right of consumers to use natural gas. The bill’s backers said the legislation would not have significantly affected the initiative’s impact, even as debate intensifies among environmental groups, the oil and gas industry and policymakers. The bill — initially planned by House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D‑Dillon, Majority Leader Jennifer Bacon, D‑Denver, and Sen. Lisa Cutter, D‑Evergreen — would have addressed how the ballot measure might affect the state’s air quality. Bacon said the initiative’s wording is overly broad and could create unintended consequences. The proposed constitutional amendment, introduced b...
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Polis-Backed Bill Redirects $300 Million In TABOR Refunds To Close Budget Gap
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Polis-Backed Bill Redirects $300 Million In TABOR Refunds To Close Budget Gap

By Nash Herman | Complete Colorado One of Governor Polis’ key requests to balance the state budget using Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) refunds passed out of the legislature and now awaits his signature.  House Bill 26-1419 will recoup almost $300 million in overcollected revenue that would otherwise be returned to Colorado taxpayers, if the measure can withstand legal challenges.  TABOR roulette As previously explained, from the first discussions of the governor’s TABOR refund recoupment proposal, legislative staff voiced their concerns to the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) about the measure’s legality.  While bill proponents remain adamant that the retroactive changes to tax collections caused by the passage of the federal One Big B...
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DataRepublican never spoke in a meeting. A million people are listening now.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

DataRepublican never spoke in a meeting. A million people are listening now.

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Jennica Pounds was in the corner, as usual. It was a meeting at Snap, and the way it worked was simple: her communication partner, Brent Mills, typed notes to her on a laptop. She typed back. Mills translated her shorthand for the room. Most meetings, nobody looked at her screen. That was fine. It had worked for years. Then Evan Spiegel stopped mid-sentence. “Wait,” the CEO said. “I want to know what Jennica is saying.” Forty years. That was the first time anyone in a meeting had done that. Jennica Pounds—known online as DataRepublican, small r—is deaf and nonspeaking. She spent more than fifteen years inside some of the biggest technology companies in the world: Amazon, eBay, Snap, Upstart, where she was a senior distinguished m...
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Ninety-six minutes later—Barrett denies Tina Peters’ renewed motion to disqualify him
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Ninety-six minutes later—Barrett denies Tina Peters’ renewed motion to disqualify him

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Defense attorney John Case filed the motion at 3:17 p.m. Monday. Judge Matthew Barrett denied it at 4:53 p.m. Ninety-six minutes later, Tina Peters’ latest effort to remove the judge overseeing her case was over. The motion cited three major court decisions and included a new sworn affidavit from Rev. Robert Babcox, chief chaplain for the Colorado State Patrol in Grand Junction. Barrett’s denial spanned four paragraphs. The filing argued Barrett was not free to dismiss or reframe sworn affidavits supporting disqualification if Colorado law required the court to presume those statements were true. 2026-0511 DENIED_Defendants Motion for Reconsideration of Order Denying Motion to Disqualify Judge Matthew BarrettDownload Judge Ma...
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Colorado commentator calls on Senate president to address Sullivan’s treatment of citizen witnesses
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado commentator calls on Senate president to address Sullivan’s treatment of citizen witnesses

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project The Free State Colorado video I link to first below was infuriating to me. In it, host Brandon Wark details Senator Tom Sullivan’s berating of a witness who came to testify on a bill before a committee where Sullivan is chair. Not okay. I don’t care what the bill is. I don’t care what any one person’s or organization’s stance on it is. This is impolite, bullying behavior and it’s not okay. Nor is it, and this is why I find it infuriating, the first time I’ve seen Sullivan do this in public. The second link below is to an earlier newsletter about a time a ways back where, shockingly, Senator Sullivan berated some citizens who came in to speak about a gun bill, essentially lobbing the accusation at them that they ...
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Colorado’s Fair Map Fight: What’s Happening and Why It Matters
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s Fair Map Fight: What’s Happening and Why It Matters

By Robyn Carnes | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice A nonpartisan overview of the competing redistricting initiatives on Colorado’s 2026 ballot — and what’s at stake for every voter. A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR As a former elected official and candidate, I’ve experienced Colorado’s election system from the inside. I’ve seen how much trust in that system matters — not just for candidates, but for the communities we serve. I’m doing this because I believe in fair process, strong institutions, and trust in elections. This isn’t about parties — it’s about process. The Big Picture In 2018, 71% of Coloradans voted to take map-drawing power away from politicians and give it to an independent constitutional commission. It worked. In 2021, the commission drew a balanced map ...
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Colorado Democrats Drop Effort To Limit Natural Gas Ballot Proposal
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado Democrats Drop Effort To Limit Natural Gas Ballot Proposal

By Taylor Dolven | The Colorado Sun The initiative would give Coloradans a “right to natural gas” in the state constitution. State Democratic lawmakers abandoned their effort to blunt the potential impact of a proposed ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to give Coloradans a “right to natural gas.” Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, Assistant Majority Leader Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, and Sen. Lisa Cutter, D-Littleton, had pledged Friday to introduce a bill that would ensure the amendment doesn’t threaten public safety or local air quality. They would have had to introduce the bill on Monday in order to have enough time to get it passed by the end of the legislative session on Wednesday. Republican House members asked t...
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