Rocky Mountain Voice

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Two doors and an insurance policy: Inside the legal backstops in Tina Peters’ October 16 hearing
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Two doors and an insurance policy: Inside the legal backstops in Tina Peters’ October 16 hearing

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice After more than four years of courtroom battles and appeals, former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters’ fight now hinges on a single federal question: whether Colorado courts violated her constitutional rights by denying her bond pending appeal.  The Oct. 16 motions hearing was part of a broader federal proceeding stemming from Peters’ Application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus filed in February. That petition asks the U.S. District Court to determine whether her ongoing detention violates the Constitution. It argues that the state’s denial of bail pending appeal punished Peters for her speech, violated her First and Fourteenth Amendments, and ignored the federal obligations that she says guided her actions as Mesa County Clerk under the Supremacy ...
Federal Judge Overturns Jury’s Verdict, Stirring Outrage in Colorado
The Denver Gazette, Approved, Commentary, State

Federal Judge Overturns Jury’s Verdict, Stirring Outrage in Colorado

By: The Gazette Editorial Board | The Denver Gazette The Trump administration ordered payroll cuts to the bloated federal bureaucracy, and Colorado sued. The administration tried to rein in a runaway budget by paring funding for public broadcasters — which Congress ultimately carried out — and Colorado sued again.  And just this week, a prominent, left-leaning Colorado federal judge lashed out at President Trump’s Justice Department over its “bad faith conduct” — for scheduling an alleged illegal immigrant’s deportation hearing just a day after he challenged his detention in court.  Heavens — we can’t have speedy justice!  In other words, the administration is taking a beating from our state’s ruling class for doing the very things everyday Coloradans have always...
Colorado Officials Admit “Unacceptable” Error That Freed Parolee Before Deadly Chase
CBS News, Approved, State

Colorado Officials Admit “Unacceptable” Error That Freed Parolee Before Deadly Chase

By Jesse Sarles | CBS Colorado The Colorado Department of Corrections says a mistake made by their department allowed a man who violated parole to walk free. That ultimately is what led to Tuesday's chase involving law enforcement and head-on crash which resulted in the death of an innocent person. The double fatal crash happened on Highway 6 in Clear Creek County. Steven Ainsworth, 51, died when his car got knocked into Clear Creek by the car Christopher Moore, 29, was driving. Both men died and a woman in the car with Moore was hurt. CDOC officials now say Moore, who had a lengthy criminal record, should have been behind bars. Most recently, in 2022, he was sentenced to prison in criminal cases from Summit County and Eagle County. On June 9, he was released on parole. ...
A small river with big influence: How the La Plata shaped western water law
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

A small river with big influence: How the La Plata shaped western water law

By Steve Harris | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Editor’s note: If you’re just joining the Water Time Reflections series by Steve Harris, this is Part 4 of 6 marking 100 years since the Colorado River Compact. Earlier pieces traced how the compact was conceived, debated, and ultimately divided the river. Here, Harris turns to the lesser-known La Plata River Compact—another milestone negotiated in 1922 that shaped interstate water law. The La Plata River Compact is also over 100 years old. It was negotiated between Delph Carpenter from Colorado and Stephen Davis from New Mexico during 1922 and finalized at Bishop’s Lodge in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I could not find minutes or detailed information on the negotiations between Carpenter and Davis and so relied upon informa...
Gov. Polis Reassesses AI Regulations After Business Backlash
Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Gov. Polis Reassesses AI Regulations After Business Backlash

By: Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics For the second time in as many years, Gov. Jared Polis has appointed a working group to address the issues around the state’s 2024 law on artificial intelligence. The law, which Polis signed despite major misgivings last year, is still not ready for prime time. The implementation date for the new law, as set by lawmakers in the August special session, was moved from Feb. 1, 2026, to June 30, 2026, providing a little more time for the tech industry and consumer groups that have been at odds over the law to come to a consensus. Whether that’s doable is another question, given that the first working group spent the last half of 2024 trying to work out differences. The working group’s final report indicated more areas of disagreem...
Colorado’s “Budget Crisis” Rings Hollow Amid EV Giveaway Surge
Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s “Budget Crisis” Rings Hollow Amid EV Giveaway Surge

By: Jon Caldara | Commentary, Complete Colorado Colorado’s governor just made this statement “The market has made it clear, EVs (electric vehicles) are here to stay.” I agree with him. Electric cars, unlike 8-track tapes and rotary-dial phones, will continue to be available to consumers for a long, long time. Cool. But why he made the statement puzzles me. He did so while touting his decision that the state will increase one of its subsidies to buy a new EV from $6,000 to $9,000. Wait a second. Which one is it? Has the market made clear electric vehicles are “here to stay”? Or do we need to increase the EV subsidy by a third to keep its market alive? And it begs another question: If the state is in a budget crisis, why spend our very scarce money buying people cars instead...
Colorado’s “wildlife threat” plan could threaten agriculture instead
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s “wildlife threat” plan could threaten agriculture instead

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I smell a Rosmarino I had a couple readers bring a recent US Forest Service (USFS) draft assessment about the Comanche National Grasslands (SE Colorado) to my attention. I didn’t have time to get to it, but I was happy to see that Rachel Gabel of the FencePost did. The reality is that she did a better job than I could have hoped to. Her lengthy rundown on the issue is linked below and is well worth reading. This is particularly the case if you are worried about efforts at conservation and species restoration spilling over into (or being used intentionally for) a way to stop other uses of public lands. I’ll leave it to you to get the details, but from what I read, this assessment smacks of the kinds of rewilding/co...
Colorado’s Local Control Eroded by State’s Energy and Housing Overreach
The Denver Gazette, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s Local Control Eroded by State’s Energy and Housing Overreach

By: The Gazette Editorial Board | Commentary, The Denver Gazette What’s the common thread between Gov. Jared Polis’ roadmap to green energy and his agenda for affordable housing?  That is, aside from the fact each will backfire on the state’s economy in one or more ways.  The answer is that both steamroll local laws that are more in tune with the needs of their communities — in pursuit of pipe dreams.  One aims to eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions — when in fact Colorado has virtually no impact on global climate in the first place. The other seeks to create more affordable housing on a wing and a prayer, oblivious to how the housing market really works. A Gazette report last week on Polis’ mad dash to 100% renewable power generation and “net zero” carbon ...
Parental Rights Debate Deepens After Supreme Court Rejects Colorado Case
CBS News, Approved, State

Parental Rights Debate Deepens After Supreme Court Rejects Colorado Case

By Melissa Quinn | CBS News Washington — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a bid to revive a lawsuit brought by two Colorado families who alleged their parental rights were violated when their children attended school-sponsored club meetings that included discussions of gender identity and sexuality and were allegedly discouraged from telling their parents about it. Though the high court turned away the case, Justices Samuel Alito, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, wrote separately to express concern with what Alito said was an unwillingness by courts to confront whether a school district violates parents' rights when it encourages a student's gender transition without the parents' knowledge or consent. "Petitioners tell us that nearly 6,000 public schoo...

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