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When policy hits home: The people paying the price for Colorado planning
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ScottKJames.com, Approved, Commentary, State

When policy hits home: The people paying the price for Colorado planning

By Scott K. James | Commentary, ScottKJames.com What all these laws, rules, “roadmaps,” and captured processes are doing to the people who actually live here. We’ve spent four chapters documenting the system: Part 1: How Colorado got quietly rewired. Part 2: The rule that choked our roads. Part 3: The advocacy-industrial complex behind it. Part 4: How “public comment” became a choreographed performance. Today, we end where this story always should have begun. Not in the Capitol.Not in a CDOT Zoom room.Not in Boulder conference halls.Not in 200-page policy PDFs. But in the real lives of the people who live with the consequences. Because none of this – none of it – is theoretical. These aren’t abstract “policy disagreements.”These are i...
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Lawmakers demand Polis reverse electrification push after shutoffs
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Lawmakers demand Polis reverse electrification push after shutoffs

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado lawmakers are pressing Gov. Jared Polis to reverse course on electrification after recent power shutoffs raised fresh concerns about grid reliability and public safety. “We write to express grave concerns over your administration’s aggressive push for statewide unfunded electrification mandates,” the lawmakers wrote in a Dec. 23 letter. “This agenda, driven by crony politics and excused by nonscience climate alarmism, favors select industries at the expense of Colorado families and businesses.” They warn the state’s energy agenda “is economically harmful and endangers lives by further straining an already fragile electric grid.” The letter was signed by Reps. Ken DeGraaf (HD-22), Brandi Bradley (HD-39), Scott Botto...
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Colorado Budget Strain Deepens as Autism Therapy Audit Threatens $60 Million Medicaid Repayment
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado Budget Strain Deepens as Autism Therapy Audit Threatens $60 Million Medicaid Repayment

By Jennifer Brown | The Colorado Sun Therapy centers countered that an abrupt rule change could result in long-term harm for children with autism. Colorado may have to repay the federal government from $60 million to $150 million after auditors found the state Medicaid program has been covering care by uncredentialed behavioral technicians for children with autism.  The financial hit comes as the state is already dealing with a $1 billion budget shortfall and cuts to Medicaid benefits that have affected multiple programs for people with low incomes and disabilities.  Colorado is among several states whose programs were audited by the Office of the Inspector General. The audit is not final and the results are not yet public, but officials at the ...
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Xcel Power Shutoffs Leave Colorado Small Businesses Facing Major Losses
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Xcel Power Shutoffs Leave Colorado Small Businesses Facing Major Losses

By Sage Kelley | The Denver Gazette Restaurants west of Denver are still coming to grips with product losses and future revenue concerns after power shutoffs last week by Xcel Energy due to high winds. “It’s like living in a third-world country,” Brandon Bortles, owner of Nosu Ramen and Abejas Bistro in Golden, said Tuesday. “We’re all behind the eight ball. I want to know, are we going to do this 10 times a year? What are we going to do in the future? Just shut down the town every day?” Xcel Energy turned off the power multiple times to at least 48,000 customers amid severe winds and extreme wildfire danger between Wednesday and Friday. As many as 160,000 customers were without power at some point, officials said. The initial shutoff occurred Wednesday morning ...
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Colorado Blackouts Offer a Stark Warning About the State’s Energy Future
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado Blackouts Offer a Stark Warning About the State’s Energy Future

By: Jon Caldara | Commentary, Complete Colorado For those of you who shared this magical experience, congratulations — you’ve now had a sneak preview of Colorado’s 100% renewable energy lifestyle. No waiting. No reservation required. For us fortunate 110,000, the reality of “unreliable energy” arrived quickly: The house goes dark; people get cold; refrigerated food and medicines quietly die; folks on home oxygen machines fumble around in the dark for backup tanks; no cooked meals; garage doors refuse to open; Teslas sit silently, judging their owners, and worst of all — no electronic entertainment. Nirvana. Absolute green, renewable Nirvana. There’s a certain poetry in chasing a wind-powered energy future only to be plunged into darkness by a little wind. It’s l...
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From question to confrontation: Peters’ legal team forces Colorado courts to choose
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

From question to confrontation: Peters’ legal team forces Colorado courts to choose

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice One day after the constitutional question facing Colorado courts came into focus, attorneys for former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters moved to force an answer. Late Tuesday, Peters’ legal team filed an urgent motion asking the Colorado Court of Appeals to determine whether it still has jurisdiction to proceed at all, given a presidential pardon and what her attorneys argue are unresolved violations of federal election law. The filing marks a shift from explanation to escalation. Yesterday’s reporting centered on the unresolved authority question now hanging over the case. This motion is the defense’s attempt to compel the court to decide it. It follows a Dec. 8 federal court order that declined to resolve Peters’ constitutional cla...
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Private Dollars, Public Rivers: Who Is Really Restoring Colorado’s Streams?
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Private Dollars, Public Rivers: Who Is Really Restoring Colorado’s Streams?

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado’s rivers are usually talked about as public assets. Debates tend to revolve around access, ownership, and enforcement. Far less attention is paid to a simpler question: who actually pays for the work when rivers need fixing? A recent Common Sense Institute report examines that side of the equation, focusing on stewardship and private investment while building on the group’s earlier work on law and history. Many Colorado landowners have invested in restoring rivers and streams, and the results don’t stop at their boundaries. Work Most People Never See River restoration doesn’t really have a finish line. The report estimates restoration and upkeep costs typically range from $300,000 ...
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Judicial outcomes are shaped long before cases reach the courtroom
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Judicial outcomes are shaped long before cases reach the courtroom

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project A leopard doesn’t change its spots, Polis’ judicial board stuffing shows he doesn’t either. I thought a follow up on an older Sun article (see the first link below) would be in order. Let’s go back before going forward. The 2023 Sun article details how Polis has stuffed judicial appointing boards with Democrats and Unaffiliateds that (in a startling coincidence) donate to Democrats. I wanted to share an update on the Sun’s numbers from 2023, now that we’ve had about 2 1/2 years more of Polis under our belts. I also wanted to look beyond simply the State Supreme Court nominating commission that the Sun examined. The second link below is to the state’s website for Judicial Nominating C...
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Court Halts Colorado Effort to Mandate Gas Stove Health Warnings
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Uncategorized, Approved, Complete Colorado, State

Court Halts Colorado Effort to Mandate Gas Stove Health Warnings

By Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado DENVER–A federal judge on Friday sided with an appliance manufacturing trade group in pausing enforcement of a Colorado law requiring consumer warning labels on gas stove appliances. Plaintiffs see the ruling as a win against state compelled speech, albeit a temporary one, as the litigation will likely continue. The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) filed a complaint in August against the state regarding House Bill 25-1161. In effect since Aug. 6, the law requires retailers to attach air quality warning labels to gas-fueled stoves sold in Colorado. The yellow label reads: “Understand the air quality implications of having an indoor gas stove.” It includes a QR code linking to a Colorado Department of ...
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After the pardon: The constitutional question Colorado courts now face
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

After the pardon: The constitutional question Colorado courts now face

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice President Donald Trump’s pardon of Tina Peters did not end her case. It changed it. What now sits before Colorado’s courts is no longer a question of guilt or innocence, nor even whether Peters should remain imprisoned while her appeal moves forward. The unresolved issue is more fundamental than that: whether the state still has authority to proceed in light of a federal pardon. It is the question attorney Peter Ticktin says Colorado can no longer set aside. Federal pardon issued by President Donald Trump for Tina Peters A pardon that altered the legal landscape Ticktin, who represents Peters, said in an interview with RMV that the federal pardon fundamentally changed the legal posture of the case. ...
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