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How climate policy became the steering wheel of Colorado government
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ScottKJames.com, Approved, Commentary, State

How climate policy became the steering wheel of Colorado government

By Scott James | Commentary, Scott K. James In part 1 of my five-part series, I reveal how climate mandates quietly reshaped Colorado’s laws, roads, and local control – without a vote from the people. Yesterday, I told you the truth about where I am – not as an elected official, not as a partisan, not as a policy wonk, but as a human being who loves this state enough to lose sleep over it. If you missed it, you can read that emotional prologue here. That was the heart.Today begins the head. Today marks the first installment of the five-part series I promised – not ranting, not rumor, not political theater, but the receipts. The real sequence of events, the policies, the bills, the rules, the decisions, and the machinery that fundamentally reshap...
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What Xcel promised regulators and what customers were told before Dec. 17 shutoff warnings
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

What Xcel promised regulators and what customers were told before Dec. 17 shutoff warnings

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Coloradans are being asked to prepare for the chance of a planned outage on Dec. 17. The company’s public alerts tell people to watch the map. The filings tell a fuller story about thresholds, timelines and who is supposed to be in the loop when a shutoff is on the table. That framework was not created overnight. It was built through years of filings with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and formally approved in 2025. As of Dec. 16, the documents already on record allow for a clearer picture of what Xcel committed to regulators and what customers were actually told as the wind event approached. Dec. 17 was not an improvisation Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) are not ad hoc emergency decisions. They are a s...
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Trump Blasts Polis as Weak and Pathetic Over Continued Imprisonment of Tina Peters
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Trump Blasts Polis as Weak and Pathetic Over Continued Imprisonment of Tina Peters

By Jesse Sarles | CBS Colorado President Trump continued to use strong words to describe Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Monday. He's upset about the fact that Tina Peters, the former county clerk and top election official in Mesa County, is still behind bars. Last week, Trump posted to Truth Social that he was pardoning Peters, saying, "Tina is sitting in a Colorado prison for the 'crime' of demanding Honest Elections." READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT CBS COLORADO
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The Bill of Rights was written to limit power. One civics lesson explains how.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

The Bill of Rights was written to limit power. One civics lesson explains how.

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice “I observed… the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer,” Ben Franklin. Bill of Rights Day is often marked with references to free speech, due process and other familiar rights. Less attention is paid to the reason those protections exist at all: to place clear limits on government power. That question sits at the center of a handwritten civics lesson now being shared among homeschool students, one that walks through how the Constitution was designed to restrict government authority, including economic decision-making. Susie Dean, a homeschool civic...
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Colorado’s quiet transformation leaves working communities behind
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s quiet transformation leaves working communities behind

By Scott James | Commentary, Scott K. James I am sounding the alarm on the quiet erosion of Colorado’s values, warning of a top-down agenda that’s silencing everyday citizens. Not the Colorado of glossy tourism ads and climate conferences. The real Colorado. The one where: Kids worked ranches and feedlots, not “sustainability internships.” You and I went to Northeastern Junior College, Aims, CSU, UNC, CU – not Cornell, Yale, or Harvard – and that was good, solid, honest. We measured a person by whether they showed up and worked, not by what panel they spoke on. A neighbor expanding his cow–calf operation was a reason to crack a beer, not a reason to clutch pearls about “emissions.” Colorado used to be: Free. Pragmatic. Op...
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Were Colorado voters sold a bill of goods on Props LL and MM?
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Were Colorado voters sold a bill of goods on Props LL and MM?

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Sold a bill of goods on Props LL and MM? Part 1 The Complete Colorado piece by Nash Herman linked first below poses an interesting question with its first line. Quoting: “Were Colorado voters duped into passing Propositions LL and MM based on false information?”The answer is not a simple one. The question itself isn’t. If voters had perfect information, would they have voted differently? Was anything done intentionally? If there were omission/mistakes with no intent, how did they come about?Perhaps most important of all, what lessons can we take for the future?Getting anywhere close to an answer to the above will require three posts, all of which will be today. I’ll summarize my thoughts on the questions and...
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Economists Predict Slow Recovery for Colorado Workforce After Policy-Driven Setbacks
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Economists Predict Slow Recovery for Colorado Workforce After Policy-Driven Setbacks

By Bernadette Berdychowski | The Denver Gazette Colorado faced weak job growth throughout 2025. More than half of the 11 largest sectors are expected to have recorded job losses by the end of the year, according to the annual economic outlook from the Business Research Division at the University of Colorado Boulder, released Monday. But 2026 is expected to see improvement, as economists forecast only three sectors will see job losses. Preliminary estimates show 2025 had 0.4% growth. Next year, job growth could improve to 0.6%. Colorado has been in a cycle of sluggish growth since 2024 that was exasperated this year by tariffs and federal cuts. The slowdown is largely driven by the professional and businesses sector, the second-largest employer in the stat...
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Holiday Airlift Shows Colorado Pilots’ Commitment to Serving Veterans
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kdvr.com, Approved, State

Holiday Airlift Shows Colorado Pilots’ Commitment to Serving Veterans

By Anna Coon | KDVR CENTENNIAL, Colo. (KDVR) — About 25 pilots helped spread holiday cheer across Colorado by airlifting toys, food and clothing to veterans and their families on Sunday. “We get to fly around, and we get to help people in the process, so it’s a win-win,” said pilot Liam Shetterly. As captain of the MSU Denver Aerobatics Flight Team, flying is routine for him, but this trip carried extra cargo and a special purpose. “It’s a really cool cause, I think, helping out our veterans,” Shetterly said. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT KDVR
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Colorado Repeat Offender Freed by Court Accused of Killing Mother of Three
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Fox News, Approved, State

Colorado Repeat Offender Freed by Court Accused of Killing Mother of Three

By: Julia Bonavita | Fox News Thomas Perales allegedly killed Annette Marie Valdez following years of domestic violence incidents and court violations. A Colorado repeat offender is accused of brutally murdering the mother of his children before spending several days pushing her lifeless body around in a shopping cart just a week after being released from jail. Thomas Perales, a homeless man with multiple prior arrests, is accused of killing Annette Marie Valdez after her body was discovered inside a Westminster trash can Dec. 4, according to 9NEWS.  Perales had allegedly violated a protection order taken out by Valdez numerous times and had been released from jail just a week before the alleged murder, the outlet reported. The 37-y...
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Minnesota’s Medicaid Scandal Shows Why Colorado Must Tighten the Guardrails
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Minnesota’s Medicaid Scandal Shows Why Colorado Must Tighten the Guardrails

By Cory Gaines | Complete Colorado To say Minnesota has had some fraud going on is an understatement. I don’t know that I’ve seen it mentioned much in local media, but it’s a big national story. Colorado should beware taking its turn in this barrel. First, some brief background. Minnesota sought (and received) Medicaid waivers during COVID to use taxpayer dollars to fund things like subsidized housing for recipients, which ended up an impetus for massive fraud. An MPR News article gives some context, but the sheer size of the numbers are what really popped out to me: “According to the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office, DHS [Minnesota Department of Housing Stabilization] had initially predicted the housing stabilization program would cost about $2.6 mill...
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