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Griswold Leads Democratic Secretaries of State Pressing DOJ and DHS Over Federal Use of Voter Data 
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Griswold Leads Democratic Secretaries of State Pressing DOJ and DHS Over Federal Use of Voter Data 

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold is leading a group of Democratic election officials challenging the Trump administration over how federal agencies are using requested voter roll data. Their concerns are detailed in a four-page letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The U.S. Department of Justice issued requests earlier this year for state-wide voter registration lists from multiple states, including Colorado.  In several cases, DOJ asked for “the full, unredacted statewide voter registration list, including registrants’ dates of birth, state driver’s license numbers, and last four digits of Social Security numbers.” Colorado’s request is documented in a May 12 lette...
Advocates Urge State Leaders To Protect Vulnerable Residents From Budget Reductions
DENVER7, Approved, State

Advocates Urge State Leaders To Protect Vulnerable Residents From Budget Reductions

By: Colette Bordelon | Denver7 For the second year in a row, Colorado is staring down a daunting budget deficit — and the governor believes cuts to Medicaid are one solution to balancing the budget. DENVER — With a budget deficit looming over the State of Colorado next year, one program in particular is under the microscope: Medicaid. A special session tackled some of the anticipated $1.2 billion budget shortfall, which was created in part by tax changes made in President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Act (H.R.1). As a result, Colorado will collect less revenue than expected when lawmakers approved the state budget in May. Some of that $1.2 billion revenue loss was absorbed by the state education fund and the affordable housing fund. Around $300 million that...
Colorado Ethics Commission Probes 17 Democrats Over Vail Retreat Contributions
Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Ethics Commission Probes 17 Democrats Over Vail Retreat Contributions

By: Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics The Colorado Independent Ethics Commission, on Tuesday, voted to move forward with investigations into 17 state Democratic lawmakers who have been accused of accepting illegal contributions to pay for an October retreat in Vail. Colorado Common Cause filed complaints against members of the Colorado Opportunity Caucus, a group of moderate Democrats in the General Assembly. The complaints are against: Sen. Lindsey Daugherty of Arvada, the group’s chair and Rep. Shannon Bird of Westminster. Bird has said she did not participate in the retreat, nor was she part of the conversation seeking $25,000 from One Main Street Colorado to pay for hotel rooms at the Sonnenalp Vail resort for the Oct. 3-5 retreat. She said in a statement Tuesday that s...
Colorado’s Land Board swaps agriculture for a revenue experiment
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s Land Board swaps agriculture for a revenue experiment

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Acquiring the Lake Fork Ranch to expand “conservation opportunities”. I saw an interesting press release from our Governor recently. It’s linked first below.Quoting:“The Colorado State Board of Land Commissioners (State Land Board) has approved the acquisition of the approximately 800-acre Lake Fork Ranch, located just west of Leadville in Lake County.”Governor Polis, DNR Director Dan Gibbs, and State Land Board Director Nicole Rosmarino all gushed about the new acquisition. To save space, I attached their quotes from the press release as screenshot 1. The quotes here, touting success for rural communities (Polis) and preserving agricultural use (Gibbs), put me in mind of an earlier rundown of the Nat...
Colorado State Land Board Approves La Jara Deal Aimed at Protecting Open Space
The Fence Post, Approved, State

Colorado State Land Board Approves La Jara Deal Aimed at Protecting Open Space

By Rachel Gabel | The Fence Post After what seemed like a rock-solid deal was thrown into a tailspin by some commissioners, the Colorado State Land Board ultimately voted to sell the La Jara property, a deal that has unanimous stakeholder support that has been in the works for nearly a decade. Ultimately, the SLB commissioners, save for Commissioner Josie Heath, voted for the disposal of the property. The 46,000-acre La Jara property in the San Luis Valley will be sold to the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The USFS and the BLM will purchase 43,526 acres with $43.5 million appropriated through the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. The remaining 2,427 acres, around La Jara Reservoir, will be sold to CPW for $6.1 million. ...
Colorado’s Uranium Prospects Return as America Seeks Reliable Fuel Sources
The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado’s Uranium Prospects Return as America Seeks Reliable Fuel Sources

By Scott Weiser | The Denver Gazette Uranium mining in Colorado has a bright future. George Glasier believes that. From his cattle ranch near Nucla, Colo., where sagebrush valleys give way to rugged canyons, Glasier leads a company working to restart old uranium mines and build a new ore processing plant. This push comes at a pivotal time for an industry that’s endured decades of booms and busts. Uranium, the key material for nuclear power, was recently reclassified as a “critical mineral” by the U.S. Geological Survey under an executive order from President Donald Trump, who said he wants to “unleash” American energy. Formerly classified as a fuel source, uranium miners and refiners have not been eligible for the same kinds of taxpayer support offered to other mineral suppl...
Colorado’s auto theft reckoning: A crisis we built, a crisis we can fix
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s auto theft reckoning: A crisis we built, a crisis we can fix

By RMV Editorial Board Colorado didn’t become the nation’s auto theft capital by accident. It got there through a decade of choices that treated working families’ cars like disposable assets. Lawmakers downgraded the theft of “low-value” vehicles to a low-level offense and sold it as reform. They never explained the part where families would carry the cost. Criminals understood the message right away. If the state didn’t take these thefts seriously, why would the offenders?  The surge pushed Colorado to No. 1 in auto theft back in 2021 and we didn’t fall far—No. 2 in 2023 and No. 4 in 2024—as neighborhoods kept paying the price in lost time and tighter budgets. State Patrol signals a shift What says more than any statistic is what the state is doing now. In a recent sta...
Xcel Seeks One-Year Extension to Keep Comanche Coal Unit Running as Grid Pressures Rise
Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Xcel Seeks One-Year Extension to Keep Comanche Coal Unit Running as Grid Pressures Rise

By Scott Weiser | Colorado Politics Colorado’s largest utility company has petitioned energy regulators to push back the retirement of a coal-fired, electrical generating unit located in the Southern part of the state from December 2025 to the end of 2026. The Polis administration is backing the petition. Comanche Unit 2 is one of three coal-fired units at the Pueblo-based Comanche Generating Station. In its petition, Xcel Energy cites as reason an extended outage at the adjacent Unit 3, surging peak demand and supply chain hurdles. The petition underscores admissions from both Xcel and state officials about a potential generating resource shortfall exacerbated by a failure at the Comanche Unit 3, taking it off-line for the next 11 months, and by delays in bringing new “rene...
Colorado Accused of Abandoning Constitution in Handling of Tina Peters Case
Illinois Review, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado Accused of Abandoning Constitution in Handling of Tina Peters Case

By Mark Vargas | Commentary, Illinois Review Colorado officials want the public to believe that keeping former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters in prison is justice. But when a woman’s health is collapsing, when she is rapidly declining, and when her continued confinement now poses a direct threat to her life, the law tells a very different story. Colorado is not simply neglecting its responsibility – it is violating its own constitution. Article II, Section 20 of the Colorado Constitution states in unmistakable terms: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” While this language mirrors the Eighth Amendment, Colorado’s Supreme Court has long interpreted its own provision more broadly than the federal min...

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