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Human Trafficking Concerns Resurface as Epstein Files Cite Colorado Links
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Human Trafficking Concerns Resurface as Epstein Files Cite Colorado Links

By Rachael Wright | The Denver Gazette With the U.S. Department of Justice’s release of 3 million more files pertaining to convicted sex felon Jeffrey Epstein, multiple written mentions of alleged connections to Colorado towns and business owners have come to light. A word search of the documents for “Colorado” generates 1,485 hits, with inquiries for cities including Denver and Aspen generating several thousands more.  Chad McWhinney, a Colorado real estate developer and chairman and co-founder of Realberry, a Denver-based real estate organization, was referenced in an email exchange to Epstein on Nov. 1, 2014. Also included in the files was a pho...
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The question no court has answered: Was Tina Peters jailed for speech?
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

The question no court has answered: Was Tina Peters jailed for speech?

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Despite months and months of litigation in both state and federal courts, no appellate court has ruled on whether Tina Peters’ speech was constitutionally protected—or whether it was improperly used to justify keeping her behind bars. Her bond challenge stalled in Colorado’s appellate court, which dismissed it as untimely. She's also turned to federal court, where her habeas petition was rejected under the Younger abstention doctrine. Even after a certificate of appealability was denied at the district court level, her case now proceeds forward in the Tenth Circuit—still without an answer to the First Amendment question at its core. Peters’ case is now moving through two separate court systems.  Peters’ conviction is b...
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Congress Should Fix Our Forests Before the Next Red Flag Warning
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Congress Should Fix Our Forests Before the Next Red Flag Warning

By Hunter Rivera | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice I still remember the orange sky over Loveland in October 2020: ash on windshields, headlights at noon, and a horizon rimmed with flame. The Cameron Peak Fire burned more than 200,000 acres across the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Rocky Mountain National Park, destroying hundreds of structures and forcing thousands to evacuate. The same month, the East Troublesome Fire exploded across Grand County, jumping the Continental Divide and claiming lives. Those weren’t abstract “Western wildfire” headlines. They were in Northern Colorado’s front yard. If you want to remember what megafire really means, drive Highway 14 toward Cameron Pass. Mile after mile, blackened trunks still stand like matchsticks where forest...
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GriftoPolis’s Green Mandate Mirage: Sacrificing Jobs and Reliability for a Fraction of a Degree
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

GriftoPolis’s Green Mandate Mirage: Sacrificing Jobs and Reliability for a Fraction of a Degree

By Rep. Ken DeGraaf | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Coloradans, let's cut through the fog of feel-good policies and face the harsh reality of our state's energy "transition." We're being sold a bill of goods on decarbonization, where the costs pile up on families and communities while the benefits are so minuscule they're practically imaginary.  Take HB26-1081, the so-called "Colorado Grid Optimization Act." It sounds innocuous—optimizing transmission with fancy tech to squeeze more out of our existing lines. But dig deeper, and it's just another layer of mandates that funnels your hard-earned money into utility coffers and Wall Street pockets, all under the guise of climate heroism. Xcel Energy, our investor-owned behemoth, loves this stuff. Why? Because...
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Half a million signatures filed for youth medical, girls’ sports and child trafficking measures
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Half a million signatures filed for youth medical, girls’ sports and child trafficking measures

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice More than half a million signatures were gathered and delivered with a single stated aim, placing before Colorado voters a set of measures supporters say are designed to protect children. Protect Kids Colorado (PKC) says it submitted more than 170,000 signatures for Proposition 109, formally titled the “Protect Women and Girls Sports Act.” The filed text would require school-sponsored athletic teams to be expressly designated as male, female or coeducational, and would prohibit male students from participating on teams reserved for “females, women or girls.” For Proposition 110, the group reported more than 164,000 signatures. That measure would prohibit a health-care professional from performing surgery on a minor “for the purpos...
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Colorado Federal Judges Hold Line On Immigration Detention Limits Despite Fifth Circuit Ruling
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Federal Judges Hold Line On Immigration Detention Limits Despite Fifth Circuit Ruling

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics Colorado’s federal judges are maintaining their view that the government’s assertion of broad immigration detention authority is unlawful, casting aside a recent appellate decision to the contrary as “unpersuasive” and out of step with the predominant interpretation by the judiciary. However, several judges are speaking out forcefully about the behavior from the government, including missed deadlines, violations of orders, and potential constitutional problems. Beginning last year, a wave of “habeas corpus” cases flooded Colorado’s U.S. District Court, pushing annual civil filings to more than 4,000 for seemingly the first time. Largely, the petitions challenging immigration detention stem from the federal government’s interpr...
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Colorado Lawmakers Clash Over Bill To Decriminalize Prostitution
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Clash Over Bill To Decriminalize Prostitution

By Marissa Ventrelli | The Denver Gazette Battle lines have begun to form at the Colorado state Capitol, where legislators are preparing to tackle a proposal to decriminalize prostitution statewide. Proponents said the proposal — which would eliminate the offense of soliciting for prostitution and the prohibition against patronizing a prostitute, as well as preclude local ordinances from banning “commercial sexual activity” — would result in safer and healthier outcomes for sex workers. Opponents said it would exacerbate human trafficking in Colorado, with one critic warning the legislation could lead to the state becoming a “mecca” for sex trafficking. Battle lines have begun to form at the Colorado state Capitol, where legislators are preparing to tackle a pro...
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High Court Says Congress Holds Tariff Power Drawing Fast Response From Colorado Lawmakers
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kdvr.com, Approved, State

High Court Says Congress Holds Tariff Power Drawing Fast Response From Colorado Lawmakers

By Brooke Williams | KDVR DENVER (KDVR) — The Supreme Court on Friday struck down a bulk of President Trump’s sweeping tariffs on imports from many foreign trading partners. The Supreme Court justices ruled 6-3 that his expanded use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs without Congressional approval was unlawful. The act gives the sitting president authority to regulate various economic transactions after declaring a national emergency, according to Congress.gov. Trump is the first president to attempt to invoke the act to impose tariffs. “Changes in the use of IEEPA powers since the act’s enactment in 1977, including its use to impose tariffs on imports from almost all countries in 2025, have caused some Membe...
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Polis Joins Other Blue States And Aligns Colorado With WHO Global Health Network
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Colorado Public Radio, Approved, State

Polis Joins Other Blue States And Aligns Colorado With WHO Global Health Network

By John Daley | Colorado Public Radio Last month, the Trump administration announced a breakup: its official withdrawal of the United States from the World Health Organization. The president initiated the split with an executive order on the first day in office of his second term. But Gov. Jared Polis clearly thinks a global health partnership has value.  He said Friday that Colorado intends to join the WHO’s Global Outbreak and Response Network, a step which will mean the state will work more directly with the WHO to ensure its “cutting-edge health science can benefit Coloradans.” The move follows other states and one city that also have Democratic leaders. The World Health Organization said last week, California, Illinois, New York a...
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Taxpayers To Fund Legal Defense For Democrats In Vail Ethics Case
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Taxpayers To Fund Legal Defense For Democrats In Vail Ethics Case

By Taylor Dolven | The Colorado Sun A legislative committee Thursday approved representation for the Democrats in the Opportunity Caucus, which hosted the Vail gathering. Taxpayers will cover the legal bills for 15 Democratic state lawmakers who face ethics complaints related to a dark money-funded weekend retreat held in Vail last month.  The legislature’s Committee on Legal Services, a bipartisan panel, voted unanimously Thursday to hire attorney Mark Grueskin of the firm Recht Kornfeld to represent the Democrats. He will be paid $250 an hour for his work. The Committee on Legal Services regularly approves publicly funded legal counsel for lawmakers who are sued or face other legal issues in their official capacity. Work on any future appeals for the 15 Demo...
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