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Colorado Judge Restricts ICE Detentions, Siding With ACLU Plaintiffs
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Fox News, Approved, State

Colorado Judge Restricts ICE Detentions, Siding With ACLU Plaintiffs

By: Landon Mion | Fox News ACLU lawsuit accuses immigration agents of indiscriminately targeting Latinos without proper legal justification. A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Colorado may only arrest illegal immigrants without a warrant if the targets are likely to flee. U.S. District Senior Judge R. Brooke Jackson's order comes after a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado and other lawyers on behalf of four people, including asylum-seekers, who were arrested by ICE without warrants earlier this year as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration. The lawsuit accuses immigration agents of indiscriminately arresting Latinos to meet the Trump administration's i...
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Latest CPW Data Shows Wolves Moving Toward Boulder and Jeffco
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Latest CPW Data Shows Wolves Moving Toward Boulder and Jeffco

By: Stephanie Butzer | Denver7 Since the 2023 approval of the Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan, CPW has said that wolves are expected to expand widely over the years, including to the Front Range. DENVER — A new map shows more gray wolf activity along the Front Range than previous records, with at least one animal — if not more — exploring central Boulder County and northern Jefferson County. According to the latest wolf movement map released by Colorado Parks and Wildlife on Wednesday afternoon, the wolves have been moving around the watersheds northwest of the Denver metro area up toward Boulder and appear closer than ever to the Front Range. The below map shows watersheds outlined in purple. If it is filled in, it means that at least one collared wol...
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Before Closing Pueblo’s Coal Unit Colorado Must Guarantee Reliable Power
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Commentary, State

Before Closing Pueblo’s Coal Unit Colorado Must Guarantee Reliable Power

By The Gazette Editorial Board | The Denver Gazette To meet Colorado’s surging need for electricity, our state needs energy from a diverse array of dedicated sources. Unfortunately, with the pending closure of the two remaining, operational, coal-fired units at Xcel Energy’s Comanche Generating Station in Pueblo, things are getting tricky. Comanche is the state’s largest power plant, with an original capacity of 1,410 megawatts. But its Unit 1 was shut down in 2022 as part of the statewide phaseout of coal-burning power plants. Unit 2 now is set to close at the end of this year, with Comanche Unit 3 scheduled for closure in 2030. It’s all part of Gov. Jared Polis’ green-energy agenda, which aims to move away from fossil fuels like coal in favor of renewable energy sources like wind a...
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Colorado Cannot Afford to Leave Its Pioneering Communities Behind
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado Cannot Afford to Leave Its Pioneering Communities Behind

By Tiffany Dickenson | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado was built by pioneers. That pioneering spirit still defines the rural communities that grow our food, produce our energy, protect our water, and carry the transportation and natural resource backbone of this state. These communities have never asked for special treatment. They have always done the hard work without complaint and have carried Colorado through every major challenge for generations.  Today, they are being asked to carry far more than their share.  A wave of overlapping state mandates, rising costs, and policy decisions made on the Front Range is hitting rural Colorado all at once. These challenges are reshaping the economic landscape of the Western Slope and other rural regions. If Colorado’s...
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Colorado’s Political Culture Is Driving Out Its Best Leaders
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s Political Culture Is Driving Out Its Best Leaders

By C. J. Garbo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado is experiencing a political decline that follows the core patterns described in political ponerology. The system rewards the wrong traits, punishes integrity, and produces outcomes that push capable people away from public service - fast and hard. You can see this in the culture that governs candidate recruitment, party operations, legislative priorities, and internal accountability.  The signals are not abstract. They are practical warning signs that explain why Colorado has a shrinking supply of competent, serious, and ethical leaders. Political ponerology teaches that a system becomes unhealthy when individuals with destructive traits gain influence. Once inside, they shape expectations, incentives, and norms...
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Colorado needs an all‑of‑the‑above energy strategy
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado needs an all‑of‑the‑above energy strategy

By Rep. Ryan Gonzalez | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice As we all know, energy is vital in policy making. If we have no secure energy sector, uncertainty will ensue. While there are different views on energy policy, we must not rule out any single source of energy (like fossil fuels) for a clean environment that also secures our demand to provide for our consumers.  Energy affects virtually everything from the cost of raw materials to the finished goods or services you see in the market. More rigorous energy policy that isn’t cost effective, only raises prices and may create scarcity of resources available. In the Colorado legislature, as a first term state Representative, I have seen these concerns unfold in real time as they push a very ambitious 2040 zero emissions ...
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PERA Payments on the Chopping Block as Polis Seeks Short-Term Budget Relief
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

PERA Payments on the Chopping Block as Polis Seeks Short-Term Budget Relief

By: Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun The move would save the state money in the short term to address Colorado’s budget crisis, but it could cost the pension as much as $180 million in the long run. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has proposed cutting the state’s contributions to the public pension by as much as $38 million next year to help cover the cost of employee raises owed under the state’s collective bargaining agreement. The move would buy the state government some financial breathing room for next year, when it faces an $850 million deficit. But it would also come at a steep long-term cost that could come back to bite public workers and taxpayers alike. The legislature’s Joint Budget Committee will consider the proposal between now and March, when it’s scheduled to ado...
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CPW Director Steps Down After Turbulent Wolf Reintroduction Fight
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

CPW Director Steps Down After Turbulent Wolf Reintroduction Fight

By Tracy Ross | The Colorado Sun Davis, who led reintroduction of wolves to Colorado, will move into an executive role in the Department of Natural Resources. Maj. Gen Laura Clellan will lead CPW until new boss is hired. The director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, who ushered in the state’s wolf reintroduction program amid widespread scrutiny over many of his decisions, is stepping down.  Jeff Davis announced Tuesday he will move to the Colorado Department of Natural Resources executive director’s office as a senior policy advisor for strategic priorities.  Replacing him as interim director is retired Maj. Gen. Laura Clellan, formerly the executive director of the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. She will start Dec. 1.  A statement from...
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Legislative transparency takes a hit as video livestream decision stalls
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State

Legislative transparency takes a hit as video livestream decision stalls

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Update-a-palooza on legislative livestreams and campaign finance complaints I wanted to update some stories I’ve been following before they get too stale (as you can see in today’s third post, I’ll be taking the rest of the week off). First, and simplest, is an update to whether or not the state legislature will continue what was a pilot program to livestream legislative committee hearings (video and audio instead of just audio). The Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition story linked first below offers more details, but the upshot is that the legislature is a decided “maybe” on whether or not to continue it. The livestreams, at least according to the article, are pretty popular but it seems the sticking point ...
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Colorado Does Not Need More Candidates. Colorado Needs a Future.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado Does Not Need More Candidates. Colorado Needs a Future.

By Sean M. Pond | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado is at a crossroads, and everyone living here can feel it. The cost of living has exploded. Families are working harder than ever yet falling further behind. Housing has slipped out of reach. Power bills climb. Groceries drain budgets. Fuel prices punish long commutes. Child care costs rival mortgages. Communities wonder how long they can stay in the state they love. All the while, the people in charge talk about saving the world while ignoring the people who actually live here, in Colorado.  We hear speeches about climate and national image. We hear big promises about transformation. We hear talking points that sound polished but solve nothing. What we do not hear is practical leadership. What we do...
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