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The case for Flock cameras: A proven tool Colorado shouldn’t abandon
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

The case for Flock cameras: A proven tool Colorado shouldn’t abandon

By Booker Lightman | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Police departments across Colorado have installed AI-powered Flock cameras to help them catch criminals. Not everyone is grateful. The fiercest opposition has come from the political Left, often driven by fears the cameras will aid ICE. These concerns led Denver to drop its contract with Flock, while a bill in the state legislature that would have required warrants for most searches of license plate data died in April after pushback from law enforcement.  Some on the Right have joined the anti-Flock crusade, concerned about the cameras’ supposed threat to privacy. Flock critics often claim the cameras are unnecessary and that the proper solution to crime is to hire more police officers. The people best placed to ...
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Colorado’s dirty voter roll: Final observations
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s dirty voter roll: Final observations

By Mike O’Donnell | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice  After six installments examining Colorado's voter registration system, Mike O'Donnell closes his series with additional observations from his review of the public voter roll and his final thoughts on what he believes should change to strengthen election integrity in Colorado. Errata By wandering through the public Colorado voter roll and grouping registrants by addresses OR by accessing the powerful (and free) ELLY program to identify potential anomalies, there are plenty of things that need to be fixed or cleaned up on Colorado’s voter roll.  And although the Secretary of State makes it more than challenging than it needs to be to clean up the voter roll, it doesn’t hurt to ask questions of county clerks or pu...
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New Report Finds Colorado Children Face Growing Financial and Education Challenges
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

New Report Finds Colorado Children Face Growing Financial and Education Challenges

By: Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics Despite having one of the country’s highest median incomes, Colorado families are struggling to afford essentials like food, housing, health care and child care. That’s according to the Colorado Children’s Campaign, which released its annual Kids Count report recently. It provides an overview of how the state’s infants, children and teens are faring compared to previous years. The report is broken down into four categories: economic security, health, K-12 education and early childhood. “The data remind us of what is at stake and who is relying on us to pay attention,” Heather Tritten, president and CEO of Colorado Children’s Campaign, said in the report. “This is a moment when data matter. In difficult times, c...
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High Housing Costs Put Colorado Business Growth at Risk
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Colorado Public Radio, Approved, State

High Housing Costs Put Colorado Business Growth at Risk

By Sarah Mulholland | CPR News Colorado’s businesses are at risk of losing their competitive edge to companies in other states and it comes down to whether people can afford to live here, according to a report from the Romer Institute of Evidence-based Policy. The reasons behind the state’s economic headwinds are multifaceted, but one thing is clear. The housing crunch is making it harder to recruit workers, the report found. The analysis looks at Colorado’s economy relative to Arizona, North Carolina, Texas, Utah and Washington. The states were chosen because they overlap Colorado’s economy based on region or industry, and they compete for talent, investment and business location decisions, according to the Denver-based nonprofit policy group that bears the name ...
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Medicaid Commission Begins Review as Colorado Spending Continues to Climb
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Medicaid Commission Begins Review as Colorado Spending Continues to Climb

By: Nash Herman | Complete Colorado Colorado’s interim Commission on Medicaid has begun meeting to address the explosive growth of the state’s health care spending.  Related concerns are also on the table, such as the management of the Department of Healthcare Policy and Financing (HCPF) and fraud, waste, and abuse.  Are legislators attacking these problems from the correct angles? Let’s find out.  Faulty premises The most recent Commission meeting raised questions about the government’s priorities in addressing Medicaid and the state budget.  A recurring theme of discussion —nothing new, yet one that actually exacerbates the very problem the Commission is attempting to address — is the idea that the health care fun...
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Colorado’s primary audit is underway. Here’s what it checks—and what it doesn’t
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s primary audit is underway. Here’s what it checks—and what it doesn’t

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Before Colorado's June 30 primary results become official, counties across Colorado must complete one of the final steps required by state election law: a post-election risk-limiting audit. Mesa County completed its audit Tuesday. "Mesa pulled 115 with zero discrepancies," Mesa County Clerk Bobbie Gross told RMV. The audit compares randomly selected paper ballot cards with how the voting system recorded the votes on them. It does not review every part of the election. What the audit checks Colorado law requires a risk-limiting audit after every primary, general, coordinated, recall and congressional vacancy election. State law describes it as a statistical audit intended to reduce the risk of certifying an incorrect election outc...
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Polis’s auto insurance roadmap is working. It’s also avoiding the hard part.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Polis’s auto insurance roadmap is working. It’s also avoiding the hard part.

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Last November, Governor Jared Polis stood before cameras and announced a Roadmap to Reduce Auto Insurance Premiums. Colorado had the fifth-highest auto insurance rates in the nation. His administration had a plan. Eight months later, the state has hit most of its targets — and Colorado is still fifth. Polis built the roadmap around enforcement, education and infrastructure — plus legislation he had already signed. What it doesn't do is ask the legislature for anything new. There would be a public dashboard so Coloradans could watch it happen. Most targets were met. The ranking hasn't moved. What the roadmap doesn't address is a separate question, one that insurance industry analysts say explains why Colorado pays more ...
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The Tina Peters trial became a fight over whether the system could withstand public inspection.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

The Tina Peters trial became a fight over whether the system could withstand public inspection.

By Joe Oltmann | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The American people have been told, over and over, to trust institutions that have not earned that trust. Not Republican institutions. Not Democratic institutions. Not federal agencies. Not state bureaucracies. Not corporate vendors. Not partisan prosecutors. Not judges who hide behind procedure while the public asks basic questions. Not media outlets that decide in advance who the villain is and then write every story backward from that conclusion. That is the frame through which the Tina Peters case should be understood. The establishment version says Tina Peters is an “election denier” who let an unauthorized person access Mesa County, Colorado election equipment. That is the sanitized institutional story. The people’s...
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New Colorado Firearm Licensing Requirements Draw Constitutional Questions
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

New Colorado Firearm Licensing Requirements Draw Constitutional Questions

By: Mike Krause | Complete Colorado In a recent episode of  Independence Institute’s public affairs tv show, Devil’s Advocate, host Jon Calda sits down with Ray Elliott, president of the Colorado State Shooting Association (CSSA), to look at sweeping new Colorado gun rights restrictions taking effect August 1. The two zero in on Senate Bill 25-003, which slaps heavy new burdens on purchasing many commonly owned firearms, including the popular AR-platform rifle. Elliott lays out the new licensing scheme: prospective buyers of certain firearms must first obtain approval from their county sheriff, pay multiple fees, complete a state-approved firearms training course, and navigate what he describes as an increasingly burdensome financial and logistical barriers for...
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Firefighting Pilot Nicholas Dale Remembered After Fatal Colorado Helicopter Crash
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Firefighting Pilot Nicholas Dale Remembered After Fatal Colorado Helicopter Crash

By: Christa Swanson, Jesse Sarles | CBS Colorado A 56-year-old Canadian pilot who crashed into a Colorado reservoir in a firefighting helicopter and died over the weekend has been identified. Nicholas Dale, a frontline federal contracted fire aviation pilot from Sooke, British Columbia, was killed on Sunday when his aircraft crashed into the Silver Jack Reservoir in western Colorado. He was involved in the battle against the Gold Mountain Fire. His body was later recovered from the aircraft, a K-MAX helicopter. The Gunnison Sheriff's Office says the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA are investigating the crash. The sheriff's office said in a news release it "offers its deepest condolences to Mr. Dale's family, friends, and fellow wildfir...
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