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TABOR Didn’t Build the Potholes
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Substack, Top Stories

TABOR Didn’t Build the Potholes

By Michael Hancock | Commentary, Undercurrent Substack Bureaucracy and pet projects did — and it’s time to realign our priorities. Colorado’s roads crumble, our classrooms overflow, and every budget cycle we hear the same refrain: “It’s TABOR’s fault.” Critics of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights insist that this constitutional guardrail has starved government of the resources it needs to educate children, maintain infrastructure, and keep the state running. But what if the potholes and crowded classrooms aren’t a symptom of too little revenue, but of misplaced priorities? The truth is, Colorado’s budget has grown steadily for years. Billions more flow into the state’s coffers than a decade ago. Yet the very areas citizens rely on most—roads, schools, public safety—continue to lag. TA...
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Residents report safer passage as Lakewood tunnel is cleaned and police increase patrols
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Fox31, Approved, Local

Residents report safer passage as Lakewood tunnel is cleaned and police increase patrols

by: Hanna Powers | Fox31 LAKEWOOD, Colo. (KDVR) — A pedestrian tunnel along Wadsworth Boulevard that neighbors recently called unsafe looks markedly different less than 24 hours after FOX31’s initial report aired Monday night. By Tuesday afternoon, construction crews had painted over graffiti, cleared trash and moved along people who had been loitering, and Lakewood police officers were on site patrolling and confiscating contraband, according to observations by FOX31 at the scene. Residents say the change is obvious. “I just feel more calm here now than … two days ago,” one commuter told FOX31 on Wednesday. “Two days [ago] I rode the bus later around 5 or 6, and I did see some of that. But at this time, I am not seeing that.” Earlier this week, neighbors described the ...
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FBI informant exposed as serial killer after years of deception
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Fox News, Approved, National

FBI informant exposed as serial killer after years of deception

BY Peter D'Abrosca | FOX NEWS Scott Kimball received 70-year sentence for killing four people while working as confidential informant DENVER – A former FBI agent says a serial killer who doubled as an FBI informant for years manipulated agents into believing he was helping them, all the while preying on unsuspecting victims.  Scott Kimball will likely spend the rest of his life in a federal prison in Colorado after he was sentenced to 70 years in 2009. He pleaded guilty to killing four people between 2003 and 2004, and his number of victims could be much higher, according to former FBI Special Agent Jonny Grusing.  "He made a game out of tricking the FBI," Grusing told Fox News Digital, adding that Kimball's case was unprecedented. "As long as...
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DPS Announced Convicted Felon as Interim Principal Before Quickly Reversing Decision
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

DPS Announced Convicted Felon as Interim Principal Before Quickly Reversing Decision

By Nico Brambila | Denver Gazette Denver Public Schools central office administrators informed parents in May that Peter Castillo would be the new interim principal at Denver School of the Arts — but they either didn’t know, or failed to disclose, that the retired educator was a convicted felon, The Denver Gazette has learned. Officials with DPS said Castillo, 59, was never hired. The incident, though, has ignited fresh doubts — at a time when parents have raised transparency concerns — about how DPS screens its leaders and communicates with families. Parents say they trusted the central office to do its due diligence, only to learn Castillo was a convicted felon whose principal license was suspended after a DUI seriously injured another driver. The omission has amplified conce...
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FBI sources say Biden shielded Burisma probe to protect Hunter
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The Federalist, Approved, National

FBI sources say Biden shielded Burisma probe to protect Hunter

By Beth Brelje | The Federalist The outrageous connections described in these newly released documents scream to be fully explained to the American people. While he was vice president, Joe Biden stepped onto taxpayer-funded Air Force 2, traveled to Ukraine, and conducted personal business with Ukraine’s then-President Petro Poroshenko. He was there “to protect the interests of Hunter Biden,” according to documents released Tuesday by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the oversight of the FBI. The new documents strengthen the information in previously released records. Last Congress, Grassley released FBI 1023 records — statements from confidential sources — alleging that when Biden was vice president, executives for Ukrainian gas...
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Montezuma County judge faces potential removal after allegations of abuse of power
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Local

Montezuma County judge faces potential removal after allegations of abuse of power

By Savana Ksarck | Complete Colorado CORTEZ–The Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline (CCJD) has announced formal proceedings to potentially remove Montezuma County Court Judge Ian McLaren for multiple instances of judicial misconduct, including lying while under investigation by the commission. Montezuma County borders Utah, New Mexico and Arizona in the southwest corner of Colorado. The 22nd Judicial District judge came under fire during a case involving then Montezuma-Cortez School District Superintendent Tom Burris in August 2024. Burris had been accused of failing to report sexual abuse of a student by a teacher. After an investigation found no evidence of the alleged abuse, McLaren then scheduled a hearing where he berated Burris over the unsubsta...
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Endorsing Violence Is Not Protected Speech and Employers Know It
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The Federalist, Approved, Commentary, National

Endorsing Violence Is Not Protected Speech and Employers Know It

By Jordan Boyd | Commentary, The Federalist Celebrating the brutal murder of a civilian lacks morals and requires far more accountability than mere ‘cancel culture’ can afford. As if Americans’ trust in corporate media weren’t eroded enough, Axios set out to further destroy what’s left of it by suggesting that firing the people who cheered on Charlie Kirk’s assassination is of the same magnitude as school shootings and other acts of violence. The egregious comparison, which made its debut in Mike Allen’s AM newsletter, suggests that the tens of thousands of people who were caught cheering and mocking Kirk’s murder didn’t deserve the “unprecedented online hunt … to name, shame and contact” their employers that ensued. Axios is not alone in pretending that statements such as ...
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Extra $9 million in settlement funds aims to fight opioid crisis locally
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gazette.com, Approved, Local

Extra $9 million in settlement funds aims to fight opioid crisis locally

By Savannah Eller | The Gazette With the processing of new settlements, El Paso and Teller counties are expected to receive about $75 million to combat opioid addiction and deaths over the next 18 years — an increase to estimates when the counties created a joint council to disburse funds.  Last year, the Region 16 Opioid Abatement Council figures had the overall total closer to $66 million awarded by 2038. The funding boost is meant to sustain community programs addressing different facets of the opioid epidemic.  "The vast majority has either not been allocated or not been received," said Erik Stone, Teller County commissioner and council vice chair.  The estimate reflects updates in the nationwide legal process to hold major drug manufacturers financ...
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New Colorado program shifts defendants from jail to treatment on competency grounds
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

New Colorado program shifts defendants from jail to treatment on competency grounds

By Michael Braithwaite | The Denver Gazette In an attempt to reduce wait times for inpatient defendant competency restoration, Colorado courts are launching a new program to divert eligible people into a separate community care process. The near-$1.5 million program, which uses money from the general fund and was spurred by the passage of House Bill 24-1355 last June, will create a process in each judicial district to identify certain individuals who are not competent enough to proceed in a trial process and refer them to a wraparound program that will connect them with external care, according to a news release from the Colorado Judicial Branch and the bill itself. “This work is the result of years of collaboration, deep listening, and versatility,” said Gene Klivansky,...
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The Left’s Pattern of Political Violence Cannot Be Overlooked
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National, Approved, Commentary, The Federalist

The Left’s Pattern of Political Violence Cannot Be Overlooked

By Mark Hemingway | Commentary, The Federalist Violence has long been weaved into the fabric of the American left, and until we honestly reckon with that, a bleak political future awaits. Yesterday, I was writing a piece on the tragic killing of Iryna Zarutska down in Charlotte that has captured national attention. Before I could finish, news came down the beloved conservative activist Charlie Kirk had been shot at a university in Utah. I’ve been covering politics for a long time, and I can’t say I’ve ever had a story about politically charged violence pre-empted by even more political violence. Nor do I ever want this to happen again. But I was doing my best to Kubler-Ross my way through this — I’ve met Kirk and generally thought highly of him — but I didn’t really snap until I s...
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