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Colorado Homeland Security Probes AI-Generated Hoax Threats To Schools
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Homeland Security Probes AI-Generated Hoax Threats To Schools

By Jennifer McRae | CBS Colorado The Colorado Division of Homeland Security investigated threats at nearly a dozen schools across Colorado on Wednesday. According to investigators, at least 11 schools received threats by phone and email, including schools in the Douglas County School District, Littleton Public Schools, Frisco, Alamosa, and Buena Vista. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT CBS COLORADO
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Colorado Democrats Move Quickly Toward Greater State Oversight In First 20 Bills
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Democrats Move Quickly Toward Greater State Oversight In First 20 Bills

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics Lawmakers from Colorado’s House of Representatives have introduced their first 20 bills of the session, which are often their top priorities for the year. In 2026, priorities include labor unions, increased affordable housing, and consumer protections. The very first bill read across the House desk, House Bill 1001, was introduced by sponsors last month during a press conference with Gov. Jared Polis. The bill, which sponsors are calling the HOME ACT, would allow schools, nonprofit organizations, and transit centers to use underutilized land to build affordable housing. “Colorado lacks over 100,000 homes, and we need creative solutions to address this housing shortage,” said sponsor Speaker Pro Tempore Andy Boesenecker...
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Behind the zero: What Colorado’s opening day didn’t say about the true cost of lawmaking
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Behind the zero: What Colorado’s opening day didn’t say about the true cost of lawmaking

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice “Governor Polis told us we should please work together,” Sen. Janice Rich said Wednesday, recounting a recent exchange as she stood on the Senate floor during opening session. Inside the chamber, legislative leaders spoke about shared goals and economic pressure on families. What didn’t make it into the speeches, according to Rich, was where many of the real financial consequences of those bills are already hiding. Rich, the Senate Minority Whip and vice chair of the Statutory Revision Committee, said the optimistic tone often masks how legislation actually moves once the gavels come down—particularly in how costs are presented, debated and ultimately shifted onto taxpayers and local governments. “They say they want to work...
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Griswold, county clerks urge Polis to reject clemency for Tina Peters ahead of appellate arguments
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Griswold, county clerks urge Polis to reject clemency for Tina Peters ahead of appellate arguments

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice With Peters’ appeal heading into oral arguments, Griswold and the Colorado County Clerks Association put it in writing for Gov. Jared Polis: don’t step in. The Jan. 13 letter carries three signatures: Griswold’s, Jackson County Clerk & Recorder Hayle Johnson’s and Colorado County Clerks Association executive director Matt Crane’s. In it, the group asks Polis not to grant clemency, warning that doing so would have consequences beyond Peters’ case. “In 2021, then-Clerk Tina Peters coordinated the breach of her own election equipment in the nation’s first public elections insider threat,” the letter states, asserting that her conduct placed the security of Mesa County elections and public confidence in democracy at risk. The a...
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Poll Shows Coloradans Want the Center, But Democrats Focused on Progressive Agenda
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State, Uncategorized

Poll Shows Coloradans Want the Center, But Democrats Focused on Progressive Agenda

By Mark Hillman | Complete Colorado The Colorado General Assembly returns for its annual 120-day session on Jan. 14, evoking a four-month visceral cringe from Coloradans who dread the next round of legislative fiats certain to be imposed upon us. Coloradans are in a restless mood lately.  It’s no secret a majority of Colorado voters has little affection for President Trump, but they’re not exactly cheerleaders for Democrats either. A December poll by Keating Research, which often works with Democrat clients, found disapproval of the Colorado Democratic Party at 55% – only slightly better than the 58% disapproval of Colorado Republicans. A majority said Colorado is headed in the wrong direction and expressed little confidence in the state legislature, w...
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What CPR left out of Colorado’s BLM oil and gas lease auction coverage
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

What CPR left out of Colorado’s BLM oil and gas lease auction coverage

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Bureau of Land Management recently held an auction for oil and gas leases in Colorado and, per the CPR story linked below, no one bid. Quoting with link intact: “On Thursday, the Bureau of Land Management auctioned off leases on more than 20,000 acres of public land in Colorado for oil and gas drilling. The land, divided into 23 parcels, was offered at the minimum starting price, just $10 an acre, and could be leased indefinitely once oil and gas starts flowing. But during the sale: crickets. Not a single parcel received a bid, and only two companies had even registered for the sale.” If you read the article, you’ll note a lot of space given over to environmentalists who crowing about the lack o...
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Colorado Democrats Push Plan That Threatens Future TABOR Refunds
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Democrats Push Plan That Threatens Future TABOR Refunds

State lawmakers will gavel in the 2026 legislative session Wednesday and the budget will once again dominate debate. By Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado The general fund is $850 million in the hole and it could get worse as the Trump Administration threatens to freeze hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to Colorado. Despite the dire fiscal outlook, Democratic leadership made it clear they won't cave to pressure from the federal government. "It is going to be a powerful session. We will be standing up to Washington," said Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie.By Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT CBS COLORADO
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How Colorado laws are really made: What Rep. Matt Soper says voters rarely see
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

How Colorado laws are really made: What Rep. Matt Soper says voters rarely see

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The Colorado legislature is about to gavel in for another 120-day sprint, and with it comes a flood of bills most Coloradans will never see until the consequences land.  What many don’t see is how quickly ideas move, who pushes them forward—and why outcomes can feel disconnected from public input. Few lawmakers are positioned to explain that gap as clearly as Matt Soper, now the longest-serving Republican in the House and widely regarded inside the building as the caucus “dean.” With term limits constantly churning the legislature, Soper has watched the same policy ideas cycle through multiple sessions, often repackaged and moving faster each time. “There’s the textbook version of how a bill becomes a law that everyone...
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Colorado Prepares to Enforce Semiautomatic Gun Training Law
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado Prepares to Enforce Semiautomatic Gun Training Law

By Scott Weiser | The Denver Gazette Colorado Parks and Wildlife has scheduled a series of virtual and in-person stakeholder meetings beginning Feb. 9, 2026, to explain requirements for a new firearms safety program and gather input from dealers, instructors and sheriffs before the mandate takes effect August 1, 2026. The program, created under Senate Bill 25-003, requires anyone purchasing or transferring certain firearms to obtain a background check, complete an in-person safety course and obtain an eligibility card that must be shown to sign up for the mandatory training. The law applies only to future transactions and exempts existing owners. Upcoming meetings include virtual sessions for firearms dealers and instructors on Feb. 9, followed by an in-person Den...
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Colorado Homelessness Linked More to Drugs Than Housing Costs Report Finds
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Colorado Homelessness Linked More to Drugs Than Housing Costs Report Finds

By: Shannon Ogden | Denver7 New study from CSI shows governments must take "treatment first" approach instead of "housing first." DENVER — A new report from Common Sense Institute (CSI) finds that Colorado ranks among the highest states in the country for homelessness and that it's not housing affordability that's driving it, it's illicit drug use, crime rates, and policing levels. The report examines 2024 homelessness data across all 50 states and the nation’s largest metro areas. The CSI reports finds that Colorado ranks: 9th nationally in total homelessness rate 7th in chronic homelessness 10th in unsheltered homelessness 7th in homelessness involving severe mental illness 7th in homelessness involving chronic substance abuse Amo...
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