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Colorado Hospitals Halt Gender Treatments for Minors After Federal Warning
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TownHall.com, Approved, State

Colorado Hospitals Halt Gender Treatments for Minors After Federal Warning

By: Amy Curtis | Townhall On December 18, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced new and sweeping regulatory changes that would bring an end to "gender-affirming care" for minors. This includes a ban on puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures for those under 18 years of age. The reforms mean that hospitals that continue to provide such "gender-affirming care" to children would be stripped of all federal funding as a condition of their participation in Medicare/Medicaid programs. In his announcement, Kennedy said, "Doctors assume a solemn obligation to protect children. Yet doctors across the country now provide needless and irreversible sex-rejecting procedures that violate their sacred Hippocratic oath, endangering t...
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Cheers and Condemnation Follow Maduro Capture Across Colorado
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Cheers and Condemnation Follow Maduro Capture Across Colorado

By Chierstin Roth, Jasmine Arenas | CBS Colorado President Trump says U.S. forces carried out strikes in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, early Saturday morning and captured Venezuelan leader NicolásMaduro and his wife to be taken to a detention center in Brooklyn, New York, facing narcoterrorism charges. The capture of Maduro prompted mixed reactions from Venezuelans in Colorado, some of whom lauded his removal, and others who said the U.S. government had no business bombing Venezuela or removing Maduro. Nelson Altuve moved his family from Venezuela to Denver two years ago. "We come from so much suffering," Altuve said.  He was in search of a better life. "The violence, the shortages of supplies and food — all of that ma...
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Feds threaten takeover of Colorado wolf management amid compliance dispute
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The Coloradoan, Approved, State

Feds threaten takeover of Colorado wolf management amid compliance dispute

By Miles Blumhardt | The Coloradoan Colorado is now facing a potential federal takeover of its wolf reintroduction program. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will take over management of wolves in Colorado unless the state adequately addresses compliance issues under its memorandum of agreement with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, according to a letter sent from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik to Lauren Clellan, Colorado Parks and Wildlife acting director. The letter, dated Dec. 18 and obtained by the Coloradoan through an open records request, states if a complete report of all gray wolf conservation and management activities that occurred from Dec. 12, 2023, to the present is not supplied within 60 days of the letter, the U.S. Fish and Wildlif...
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Who funds Colorado’s legislative fellows and how much influence do they have?
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, State

Who funds Colorado’s legislative fellows and how much influence do they have?

By Cory Gaines | Colorado Accountability Project Meet the Fellows SB25-309, linked first below, has lofty and not-unreasonable goals. Quoting the bill’s fiscal note:“The bill authorizes the Legislative Council Committee to approve agreements between the Legislative Council Staff (LCS) director and nonpartisan organizations to place nonpartisan legislative policy fellows in LCS. Any agreement approved by the committee must ensure that the director retains supervisory authority over fellows, and also specify that any work created during the fellowship remains the property of the General Assembly.”The concept is simple. We all have our areas of expertise and education, and we are all ignorant outside of those areas. Our legislators are no exception; they’re not super men...
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After the rhetoric, Colorado secures $200 million for rural health care
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

After the rhetoric, Colorado secures $200 million for rural health care

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice “People will die—tens of thousands, perhaps year after year after year—as a result of the Republican assault on the health care of the American people.” That’s what House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on July 3, during the longest speech in House history, in an effort to delay passage of H.R. 1—a.k.a. the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB)—before it was sent to President Trump for signature. The eight-hour-plus speech set a tone, framing the bill as “a crime scene.” The 43-day shutdown fight came with its own healthcare messaging. “Republicans have tried to stick us with a partisan CR that fails to protect Americans’ healthcare,” the Democrat leader said on the Senate floor. With the performative politicking now in the re...
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When caps don’t cap costs
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

When caps don’t cap costs

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice A familiar promise, a familiar frustration Voters are often told that a policy includes a built-in safeguard — a cap, a limit, a hard stop designed to keep costs under control. In Colorado, that promise came with the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, approved by voters in 1992 as a constitutional amendment limiting how much revenue state and local governments can keep and spend without voter approval. Nationally, it appeared in the Affordable Care Act’s limits on how much of each insurance premium can be kept for administration and profit under the law’s medical loss ratio rules. The two systems regulate very different things. One governs government revenue, the other private insurance markets.  But cr...
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“Not a Land Grab”
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

“Not a Land Grab”

By Aimee Tooker | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The proposed Dolores River National Conservation Area is a total of 68,000 acres along the river in Montezuma, Dolores and San Miguel Counties and was the result of over 15 years of stakeholder engagement. Despite the remote and beautiful nature of the Dolores River, over a century of coordinated collaboration among stakeholders has determined its optimal usage and management, and those local conversations excluded the use of both Wild and Scenic status as well as a designation as a National Monument.  A “Land Grab” would have been a 500,000-acre National Monument signed over by one President. This NCA proposal does NOT include any land in Montrose and Mesa counties and the critical mineral resource known as the Ur...
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Justice Served as Colorado Child Predator Receives 84-Year Federal Prison Sentence
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The Western Journal, Approved, State

Justice Served as Colorado Child Predator Receives 84-Year Federal Prison Sentence

By Jack Davis | The Western Journal A 31-year-old Colorado man has been sentenced to 84 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple counts of the sexual exploitation of minors. Austin Ryan Lauless, 31, was sentenced on Dec. 17, according to a Department of Justice news release. In addition to prison time, he faces a lifetime of supervised release. Lauless pleaded guilty to 13 counts of sexual exploitation of a child, five counts of sex trafficking of a minor, two counts of advertising child sexual abuse material, and possession of child sexual abuse material, the Justice Department said. The release said the 84 American victims come from almost every state, and that victims from at least five foreign countries have been identified. READ THE FUL...
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Federal Order Delays Closure of Craig Power Plant as Energy Debate Intensifies
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Federal Order Delays Closure of Craig Power Plant as Energy Debate Intensifies

By Scott Weiser | The Denver Gazette The Trump administration’s energy agency has ordered one of three generating units at a Colorado power plant to remain available for operation amid an impending shutdown of the station and its supplying coal mines. The move is one of the latest attempts by the White House to revive coal production in the U.S. following President Donald Trump’s promise to “unleash” American energy. In Colorado, Democrats and their allies have prioritized moving away from fossil-fired energy in favor of solar and wind power in their campaign to get to net “zero” carbon emissions in a few decades, arguing it is good for people’s health and the environment. Republicans and others have argued that the transition is happening too quickly, with little rega...
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New Colorado Emissions Law Expected to Push Furnace Prices Up 40% or More
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Approved, kdvr.com, State

New Colorado Emissions Law Expected to Push Furnace Prices Up 40% or More

By Ashley Michels | KDVR FOX31 DENVER (KDVR) — HVAC experts are warning about a significant price increase in the cost of new furnaces and water heaters in 2026. On Jan. 1, a new law went into effect in Colorado tightening the emissions standards on gas furnaces and water heaters. Units manufactured beginning Jan. 1, 2026 must meet Ultra Low Nox (ULN) or Energy Star ratings in order to be sold and installed in Colorado. The law does not require Coloradans to immediately replace their existing furnaces and water heaters with upgraded equipment. However, when it comes time to purchase replacements, they must meet the new standards. The change is meant to improve air quality in Colorado, cut down on pollution and help lower utility bills. However, experts expect u...
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