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Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser Faces Scrutiny Over Access to Lawsuit Records
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser Faces Scrutiny Over Access to Lawsuit Records

By Adam Herbets | The Center Square (The Center Square) - Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has filed dozens of lawsuits against the federal government, priding himself on his ability to fight and win cases against the Trump Administration, but he has yet to answer questions about the costs of those lawsuits to taxpayers. His office publishes a partial list of cases but otherwise keeps the full list behind a $331 paywall. While the partial list highlights "the total amount of federal funds successfully defended" by Weiser's lawsuits, it doesn't tell taxpayers the cost of pursuing the lawsuits. It also doesn't show whether taxpayers paid outside firms to do any of the work. Unlike a number of neighboring states, Colorado state law does not requir...
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Peters Release Day Arrives With Key Details Still Unknown
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Peters Release Day Arrives With Key Details Still Unknown

By Nancy Lofholm | The Colorado Sun Gov. Jared Polis commuted the former Mesa County clerk’s sentence last month, making her eligible for parole and setting off a national firestorm over her role in attempting to interfere with an election. Tina Peters is scheduled to be released from a state prison in Pueblo Monday after Gov. Jared Polis controversially commuted the former Mesa County clerk’s sentence last month, cutting it in half.Peters, 70, has been imprisoned since 2024 for election fraud and official misconduct after she snuck an outside election denier into the off-limits Mesa County Elections Division office so he could copy the hard drive from the county’s voting system. Sentenced to nine years in October 2024, Polis cut her prison time in half on May 15 and made h...
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Follow the money faster: New tool unlocks Colorado spending data in minutes
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Follow the money faster: New tool unlocks Colorado spending data in minutes

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I have mentioned (and used) the TOPS system, our state’s online checkbook register, multiple times. It’s a great way to see who our state is paying and for what. I noticed recently (within the last 6 months) that the people who run it made it significantly harder to use: I’m not sure why, but at some point they made it so you can only go month by month.** I had a reader kindly volunteer his time and skill at computer programming to come up with a way to automate TOPS searches so I, and now you since the program is public, don’t have to click and wait month by month to find what we need. The program this person came up with lives online and is linked first below. They titled it a TOPS scraper. It’s pretty i...
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Laura Clellan Takes Helm At Colorado Parks And Wildlife After Unanimous Vote
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Laura Clellan Takes Helm At Colorado Parks And Wildlife After Unanimous Vote

By Christa Swanson | CBS Colorado The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission has unanimously voted to name Acting Director Maj. Gen. Laura Clellan as the new permanent director. Clellan has been serving as acting director since Dec. 1, 2025. She previously served as Chief for Leadership and Employee Development for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Lakewood and as Adjutant General and Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT CBS COLORADO
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Polis Extends Spending Cuts as Colorado Struggles With Deep Budget Gap
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Polis Extends Spending Cuts as Colorado Struggles With Deep Budget Gap

By Katie Parkins | Denver7 Colorado Gov. Jared Polis in an executive order on Monday extended already-issued spending cuts through the end of February in an effort to achieve the $265 million in savings his office says is needed to balance the state's budget. Executive Order D 2025 22 extends orders Polis issued in August and October of this year, which ultimately laid out roughly $115 million in cuts from state departments and another roughly $148 million in transfers to the state's general fund. The prior orders expired on Nov. 30. A hiring freeze put in place by a separate order (D 2025 009) ends on Dec. 31, 2025. The state says that hiring freeze achieved $3 million in savings. Polis has said the $265 million in savings is needed due to a massive budget gap created by Pr...
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Audit Finds Denver Council Still Lacking Clarity on Public Funds Spending
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Audit Finds Denver Council Still Lacking Clarity on Public Funds Spending

By Deborah Grigsby | The Denver Gazette Denver’s councilmembers continue to give city funds to local organizations using a process lacking clarity and accountability, weakened by inconsistent terminology and legal opinions around donations, sponsorships and grants, according to city auditors. City Council officials countered that no definitions exist in the city charter or in ordinance for these terms and changing them at one level would have a ripple effect across government. In a new follow-up report, Denver Auditor Timothy O’Brien commended the City Council on its efforts to remedy recommendations from an earlier audit but suggested there’s more work to be done. “I commend the City Council for doing a great job implementing most of our recommendations from our initial 2...
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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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Colorado cuts health subsidies for illegal immigrants with lottery system deciding who keeps coverage
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Colorado Public Radio, Approved, State

Colorado cuts health subsidies for illegal immigrants with lottery system deciding who keeps coverage

By Mateo Schimpf | CPR News On Nov. 17, phones started lighting up at a first-floor office in north Denver. Hundreds of people wanted to know whether they had won the lottery, and if not, if they had other options. The callers were not looking for the winning Powerball combination. They wanted to know whether they would be able to afford health insurance next year. The days leading up to Nov. 17 were excruciating for Blanca, who’s 52 and a single mother, and whose last name we’re not using because of concerns she could be targeted by federal law enforcement due to her immigration status.  She’s among 12,000 undocumented Coloradans who received subsidies from the state to get free health insurance through the OmniSalud program in 2025. But she had to wait to see if she w...
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Colorado Ethics Watch Alleges Misconduct by Democratic Legislators at Vail Retreat
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Ethics Watch Alleges Misconduct by Democratic Legislators at Vail Retreat

By: Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Colorado Common Cause filed complaints Wednesday with the state ethics commission against 12 Democratic state lawmakers, alleging they accepted funding from the “dark money” group One Main Street Colorado for a three-day retreat at a luxury hotel in Vail last October. The complaints said the lawmakers accepted illegal gifts from One Main Street that violate Amendment 41, the state’s ethics amendment, also known as Article 29 of the state Constitution. Under that amendment, lawmakers are not allowed to accept gifts exceeding $75 per person per year. But the cost of the rooms at the Sonnenalp Vail came in at about $25,000 for the lawmakers. The complaint claimed the hotel charges $316 to $500 per night. Common Cause also said th...
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