Rocky Mountain Voice

Menu

State

Weekly Roundup: Denver Health Immigrant Crisis, Property Taxes Increasing by 25%, Arapahoe County Commissioners Want to Eliminate TABOR
No Comments
Approved, freestatecolorado.com, State

Weekly Roundup: Denver Health Immigrant Crisis, Property Taxes Increasing by 25%, Arapahoe County Commissioners Want to Eliminate TABOR

By Brandon Wark | SOURCE: FREE STATE COLORADO This week, we look at the crisis at Denver Health, public school enrollment, home permitting delays, Arapahoe County tax protections under threat, the split in the Democratic House Caucus, the Ouray newspaper theft, and look at an event hosted by the Colorado Union of Taxpayers this week! Links to Articles: New immigrants pose ‘difficult dilemma’ as Denver Health sees thousands of unpaid medical visits: https://denvergazette.com/news/new-immigrants-pose-difficult-dilemma-as-denver-health-sees-700-increase-in-patients/article_93bbba78-b4b0-11ee-83bf-93150c61a814.html Colorado’s public school enrollment hits lowest level in a decade: https://www.denverpost.com/2024/01/17/colorado-public-school-enrollment-2023/ Del...
Read More
Now Polis says fix the border, as hospital struggles under 22,000 migrant visits
No Comments
Approved, coloradopeakpolitics.com, State

Now Polis says fix the border, as hospital struggles under 22,000 migrant visits

SOURCE: COLORADO PEAK POLITICS Colorado hospitals are begging for a federal bailout to pay for the 20,000-emergency room, childbirth, dental and primary care visits last year from the flood of migrants taking advantage of President Biden’s open border policy. The doctor in charge of government relations at Denver Health told Fox News the country needs orderly migration at the border instead of the come-one-come-all policy that is overwhelming the country’s infrastructure. Ha! Just kidding!  Dr. Steve Federico asked for more taxpayer dollars to fund the unchecked migration and keep ‘em coming! “We absolutely need additional public support to help provide health care to our safety net hospitals such as Denver Health,” Federico told “The Ingraham Angle” Thursday...
Read More
Colorado Lawmakers to Consider Pro-Nuclear Bill
No Comments
Approved, i2i.org, State

Colorado Lawmakers to Consider Pro-Nuclear Bill

By Jake Fogleman | SOURCE: INDEPENDENCE INSTITUTE Colorado lawmakers are set to consider their first nuclear energy bill of the 2024 legislative session later this week. SB24-039, dubbed “Nuclear Energy as a Clean Energy Resource,” is scheduled to go before the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee for first reading on Wednesday. The bill seeks to level the playing field for carbon-free energy technologies under state law by including nuclear energy in the statutory definition of “clean energy.” Nuclear is presently excluded by name. According to the text of the measure: The statutory definition of ‘clean energy’ in current law determines which energy projects are eligible for clean energy project financing at the county and city and county level. The statu...
Read More
Top Republican in Colorado House narrowly survives vote to remove him following revelation about his 2022 DUI arrest
No Comments
Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Top Republican in Colorado House narrowly survives vote to remove him following revelation about his 2022 DUI arrest

By Brian Eason and Jesse Paul | SOURCE: THE COLORADO SUN Colorado House Minority Leader Mike Lynch on Monday narrowly survived a vote to remove him as the leader of the chamber’s 19-member Republican caucus after it was made public last week that he was arrested in 2022 on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and possessing a gun while intoxicated. The vote of no confidence was split 9-9, with one lawmaker absent and Lynch voting to keep his post. In ties, the vote fails. During the tense caucus meeting in a Capitol committee room, Lynch rejected calls from some members of his caucus to resign his post. The Wellington lawmaker defended his tenure, saying the caucus has had more cohesion under his leadership than it had in the past. “If I believed that this event,...
Read More
Colorado officials thought they had 3 more years to spend $1.5B in federal COVID aid. They have 11 months.
No Comments
Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado officials thought they had 3 more years to spend $1.5B in federal COVID aid. They have 11 months.

By Brian Eason | SOURCE: THE COLORADO SUN Colorado state budget writers are in a race against the clock to spend $1.5 billion in leftover federal pandemic aid before the end of 2024 thanks to new guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department. The deadline is two full years sooner than state lawmakers and Polis administration officials had expected. That has set off a mad scramble to rewrite the budget for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, to allow the state to spend federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars faster than lawmakers intended. The time crunch arose from shifting guidance from federal officials on how they define “obligated,” a term that doesn’t exist in state law. Federal law has long required ARPA recipients to “obligate” all of their funding by th...
Read More
How Colorado voters are reacting to Lauren Boebert’s congressional district swap
No Comments
Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

How Colorado voters are reacting to Lauren Boebert’s congressional district swap

By Jesse Bedayn, The Associated Press/Report for America | SOURCE: THE COLORADO SUN LAST CHANCE — Fleeing a tough reelection bid in the district where she lives, Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert is moving from the mountains to the plains, in the hopes of finding conservative pastures green enough to salvage her place in Congress. To win, she’ll have to convince a new swath of voters that her brand of white-hot, far-right political activism — built on divisive one-liners and partisan ferocity in the U.S. House — is more needed in Washington than the home-grown Republicans she now faces in the primary. While Boebert’s new district voted for President Donald Trump by a nearly 20 percentage point margin in 2020, more than double the margin in her old district, and some Republic...
Read More
THIS WEEK AT THE COLORADO CAPITOL | Week of Jan. 22, 2024
No Comments
Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

THIS WEEK AT THE COLORADO CAPITOL | Week of Jan. 22, 2024

By Marianne Goodland | SOURCE: COLORADO POLITICS Here are legislative committee hearings and other events of note for the week ahead for the Colorado General Assembly. Committee schedules are subject to change. Schedules for both the House and Senate can change at any time. The website is the best resource for keeping up with daily activities.  Options for public testimony during committee hearings can be found here.  Regulations for remote testimony by the public can be found here. READ FULL ARTICLE ON COLORADOPOLITICS.COM
Read More
“I forced Lauren Bobert to Change Districts”: Meet the Libertarian Running for Congress in CD 3, James Wiley
No Comments
Approved, freestatecolorado.com, Local, State, Western Slope

“I forced Lauren Bobert to Change Districts”: Meet the Libertarian Running for Congress in CD 3, James Wiley

By Brandon Wark | SOURCE: FREE STATE COLORADO James Wiley is marching for peace. Not only is he marching around the State Capitol in Denver, but he will be marching to Washington DC if he wins his Congressional campaign. James, a local pro-liberty activist is running as a Libertarian for Congress in CD 3. James was running against Lauren Boebert before she switched districts because in part, Boebert refused to sign the Libertarian Party of Colorado’s Pledge for Pro-Liberty Republicans. He is still committed to ensuring that the Republican nominee supports pro-liberty positions and is not going to drop out of the race until there is a signer to the Libertarian Party of Colorado’s Pledge. In this interview, James explains how he became a pro-liberty activist, why he decided...
Read More
Colorado’s Attorney General Grants $3.9M for Opioid Abuse Treatment in Prisons
No Comments
Approved, State, thelobby-co.com

Colorado’s Attorney General Grants $3.9M for Opioid Abuse Treatment in Prisons

SOURCE: THELOBBY-CO.COM Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has recently come under fire for allocating a staggering $3.94 million grant to the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) for the treatment of opioid addiction. Critics argue that these funds should have been prioritized for law enforcement to prevent the distribution, sale, and use of opioids first. The two-year agreement between the Colorado Department of Law and the CDOC will focus on delivering medications for “opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment,” behavioral health counseling, and care coordination for inmates in state correctional facilities. According to Weiser, "Two-thirds of today's incarcerated population, on a nationwide basis, struggles with a substance use disorder, and that percentage is even higher in...
Read More
Colorado Introduces a New Railroad Safety Bill in Response to Recent Derailments
No Comments
Approved, State, thelobby-co.com

Colorado Introduces a New Railroad Safety Bill in Response to Recent Derailments

SOURCE: THELOBBY-CO.COM A new train safety bill is currently making its way through the Colorado legislature, aiming to enhance safety measures for railroads across the state. House Bill 24-1030, if passed, will require railroads to implement additional safety features, impose restrictions on the length and weight of trains carrying hazardous materials, and limit the duration that trains can block major intersections during their passage. PRIME SPONSORS Rep. Javier Mabrey Sen. Lisa Cutter Sen. Tony Exum The prime sponsor of the bill, HB24-1030, emphasizes that this legislation had been in progress prior to the tragic derailment incident that occurred north of Pueblo on I-25 in October. The sponsors, who are predominantly Democrats, assert that their primary concern i...
Read More