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Lawmakers want Colorado employers to display suicide prevention posters at workplaces
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Lawmakers want Colorado employers to display suicide prevention posters at workplaces

By Marissa Ventrelli | SOURCE: COLORADO POLITICS Colorado is currently ranked sixth in the nation for suicides, a figure that two state lawmakers are looking to decrease through a bill that would require companies to post prevention education posters at workplaces starting next year. The proposal from State Rep. Stephanie Vigil, D-Colorado Springs, and Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet, D- Commerce City, would also require businesses to include suicide prevention information in company handbooks. Under House Bill 1015, posters created by the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics would include an overview of available suicide prevention training programs, educational materials on reducing access to means of self-harm, such as firearms, information on the 988 Suicide Crisis...
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Chaos erupts as some Republicans try anew to oust leader Mike Lynch
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Chaos erupts as some Republicans try anew to oust leader Mike Lynch

Republican leader survives attempt to oust him By Marianne Goodland | SOURCE: COLORADO POLITICS Another attempt to oust Rep. Mike Lynch as minority leader devolved into chaos on Tuesday morning, when his critics within the caucus failed to muster a quorum to hold a vote on his leadership.    Some of Lynch's colleagues sought to oust him from his post as House Minority Leader on Monday, when the GOP caucus deadlocked on the question of whether to retain him, which meant Lynch kept his post.     It was the second day of the drama that erupted within the House Republican caucus resulting from the news that Lynch was arrested for drunk driving in 2022. Today's saga began with Rep. Scott Bottoms calling for a caucus meeting. But  Rep. Mary Bradf...
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Burton Brown to seek State Board of Education seat
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Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Burton Brown to seek State Board of Education seat

Kristi Burton Brown, formerly the chairwoman of the Colorado Republican Party, has announced her candidacy for the Colorado State Board of Education seat in Congressional District 4. "Our education system needs more opportunity, better accountability, and greater empowerment for parents," Burton Brown said. "The Board of Education needs members who are committed to expanding school choice, ready to insist on high academic standards, and willing to prioritize parents' voices." Burton Brown is the Executive Vice President at Advance Colorado and, as a practicing attorney, is admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court where she has submitted briefs on the right to life, religious freedom, and women's right to play sports without men taking their place. She is a former substitute teacher in rura...
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Armstrong: Colorado journalists cheerlead government interference
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Approved, completecolorado.com, State

Armstrong: Colorado journalists cheerlead government interference

 By Ari Armstrong | SOURCE: COMPLETE COLORADO PAGE TWO I worry about those who disparage “the media” without context or specific complaints. Badmouthing journalists can be a way to dodge reporting you don’t like. But there is such a thing as media bias, or at least biases within media. That’s not surprising. Journalists are people, and most people harbor some bias or other. But news publications, I think, have a responsibility to try to counteract rather than feed their reporters’ biases. Here I address a couple of recent cases of journalists cheerleading government interference. We might call this a “pro-state bias.” This bias is pronounced with three of Colorado’s leading news outlets, Colorado Public Radio, the Denver Post, and the Colorado Sun. Here I’ll look at examples from the...
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Evaluating Gov. Polis’s Tax Reform Agenda: Tax Expenditures vs. Broad-Based Tax Relief
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Approved, i2i.org, State

Evaluating Gov. Polis’s Tax Reform Agenda: Tax Expenditures vs. Broad-Based Tax Relief

By Fiscal Policy Center | SOURCE: INDEPENDENCE INSTITUTE Colorado’s governor, Jared Polis, champions increasing state revenue by eliminating provisions of the tax code that benefit special interests—what state budgeters call “tax expenditures.” Rather than use the new money to grow government or redistribute surplus revenue through tax handouts and Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) refunds, however, the governor argues the state should use the revenue to provide tax relief for all Colorado taxpayers through income tax rate reductions. As far back as 2018, Polis campaigned on this tax reform approach. This report evaluates Governor Polis’s progress in advancing these tax reform goals. By calculating the revenue impact of each tax expenditure modification, it determines whether legislatio...
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COLUMN: As school performance slumps, parents opt out | Jimmy Sengenberger
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Approved, gazette.com, State

COLUMN: As school performance slumps, parents opt out | Jimmy Sengenberger

By Jimmy Sengenberger | SOURCE: THE GAZETTE In the pandemic’s aftermath, Colorado’s public PreK-12 school system faces deteriorating enrollment. Contrary to the narrative spun by politicians, educrats and teachers union bosses — that the slump is simply due to demographic shifts, unaffordable housing and COVID-19 — it’s far from the full story. Last week, the Denver Gazette reported 1,800 fewer students were enrolled at the October count, a 0.20% year-over-year dip. While Colorado’s population burgeoned, education department data reveals public-school enrollment plunged by 30,024 students (3.3%) in the 2020-2021 school year — the state’s first drop since 1988. The subsequent rebound for 2021-2022 was modest, regaining just 3,318 students (0.38%). The statewide exodus continued,...
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EDITORIAL: The urgent need for more school choice in Colorado
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Approved, gazette.com, State

EDITORIAL: The urgent need for more school choice in Colorado

By The Gazette Editorial Board | SOURCE: THE GAZETTE The only downside to school choice in our state? There isn’t enough of it. It’s the right prescription for what ails Colorado’s public schools — an inoculation against the plague of malaise and abysmal performance at too many schools in too many communities. It’s why we salute the 14th annual National School Choice Week, which kicked off Sunday and runs through Saturday in Colorado and across the rest of the country. It’s a week in which school choice’s diverse advocates and supporters not only raise the movement’s profile for state policymakers but also reach out to parents to help them take advantage of the education options available to them. The observance, organized by the National School Choice Awareness Foundation, wil...
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Colorado property taxes may increase 25%
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Colorado property taxes may increase 25%

By Noah Festenstein | SOURCE: COLORADO POLITICS Despite Gov. Jared Polis approving several property tax relief bills after the failure of Proposition HH, Colorado homeowners may still pay an average of 25% more in property tax increases, according to an analysis by the Common Sense Institute. Proposition HH intended to use the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights surplus revenue – normally money refunded to taxpayers – to reduce property taxes, fund school districts, water districts, fire districts, ambulance and hospital districts and other local governments. Voters in November did not support the tax relief measure, which was estimated to save the average homeowner $1,200 in the next three years. Following Proposition HH's defeat, Polis held a special legislative session to discuss alte...
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Colorado justices hear cases, judicial officials put on suspension
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Colorado justices hear cases, judicial officials put on suspension

By Michael Karlik | SOURCE: COLORADO POLITICS Welcome to Court Crawl, Colorado Politics' roundup of news from the third branch of government. The Colorado Supreme Court heard oral arguments in six cases last week, while a pair of judicial officials were placed on suspension under mysterious circumstances. Oral argument week •  In an unusual case submitted by the federal appeals court based in Denver, the justices are set to give their opinion about whether Colorado's sex offender law, when applied to juveniles, takes account of the factors the U.S. Supreme Court has said are relevant to preventing the imposition of cruel and unusual punishment. READ FULL ARTICLE ON COLORADOPOLITICS.COM
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Paws are on the Ground
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Approved, State, The Western Slope Statesman

Paws are on the Ground

Proposition 114 has been fulfilled after 3 years of strife. Here's how it happened. By Rep. Matthew Soper | SOURCE: The Western Slope Statesman Proposition 114 puts in statute that gray wolves should be reintroduced “on designated land west of the continental divide” by December 31st, 2023. These “designated lands west of the continental divide” are what we colloquially refer to as the Western Slope of Colorado. The purpose of the proposition, according to the environmentalists, is to “restore balance” to Colorado’s ecosystems. For those of us living on the West Slope, it means an assault on our way of life by jeopardizing our ranching, hunting/guiding, tourism, and outdoor recreation economies. Colorado’s reintroduction effort followed reintroduction efforts b...
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