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El Paso County’s public safety tax returns to the ballot with a change to oversight
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, Local

El Paso County’s public safety tax returns to the ballot with a change to oversight

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Heads up El Paso County: you've got a tax to vote on in November and I believe you can speak up about it in your local Grey Book! Per the Tribune article linked at bottom, El Paso County Commissioners approved a ballot measure to extend a sales tax whose proceeds go to help fund the sheriff's office. The tax originally started in 2012 and has been extended a few times since. In its current iteration, it is slated to end in 2029, but commissioners approved a ballot measure which would extend it to 2037.  If you live in El Paso County, take a minute to carefully review the ballot measure. There were a couple things in the article that would have raised an eyebrow for me if I were voting on it. Quoting: "...
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Colorado’s weirdest race is safe: Manitou Springs funds the coffin races for 2026
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ScottKJames.com, Approved, Commentary, Local

Colorado’s weirdest race is safe: Manitou Springs funds the coffin races for 2026

By Scott K. James | Commentary, ScottKJames.com Manitou Springs found a practical way to protect its coffin races without burying a beloved Colorado tradition. In my rounds as a county commissioner, I get to talk to a lot of people. Different towns. Different politics. Different backgrounds. But I hear the same uneasy sentence in a hundred different forms: Things just ain’t what they used to be. Then, almost immediately, we apologize for saying it. Because somebody is always standing nearby ready to explain that this is called “progress,” and apparently progress means you’re supposed to smile politely while the thing you loved gets turned into luxury apartments and a parking app. Every small town has a big day. In my beloved Johnstown, it’s BBQ Daze. Milliken ha...
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Colorado Springs Planning Commission Keeps Data Center Project Moving Forward With Four New Conditions
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Colorado Politics, Approved, Local

Colorado Springs Planning Commission Keeps Data Center Project Moving Forward With Four New Conditions

By Alex Edwards | Colorado Politics The Colorado Springs Planning Commission rejected appeals Thursday night against a proposed artificial-intelligence data center off Garden of the Gods Road. The vote of the commission was 6-2, but residents who filed the appeals will have 10 days to challenge that decision. While allowing Project Taurus to proceed, the commissioners set four conditions on the company, Raeden. These include: Requiring Raeden to report utility use data for the first 10 years of operation. Limiting utility use to a specified level of 50 megawatts, with the condition that if Raeden wants to exceed that, it must return to the commission for further approval. Raeden must furnish a corrected “single sheet” to the existing building plan. The...
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El Paso County sought election-security funds while the state sued over the conditions
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

El Paso County sought election-security funds while the state sued over the conditions

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice While Colorado was preparing to challenge new federal election-security requirements in court, the election office in the state’s most populous county was moving ahead with plans to strengthen its own election security under the same grant program. Six days before Attorney General Phil Weiser sued the Trump administration over election conditions attached to Homeland Security Grant Program funding, El Paso County Clerk Steve Schleiker submitted a $79,850 proposal seeking federal money for an independent review of his office's election security. The proposal isn't for new voting equipment. It would hire an outside firm to examine the county's election operation through cybersecurity testing, penetration testing, physical-security assessmen...
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The case for Flock cameras: A proven tool Colorado shouldn’t abandon
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

The case for Flock cameras: A proven tool Colorado shouldn’t abandon

By Booker Lightman | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Police departments across Colorado have installed AI-powered Flock cameras to help them catch criminals. Not everyone is grateful. The fiercest opposition has come from the political Left, often driven by fears the cameras will aid ICE. These concerns led Denver to drop its contract with Flock, while a bill in the state legislature that would have required warrants for most searches of license plate data died in April after pushback from law enforcement.  Some on the Right have joined the anti-Flock crusade, concerned about the cameras’ supposed threat to privacy. Flock critics often claim the cameras are unnecessary and that the proper solution to crime is to hire more police officers. The people best placed to ...
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Democratic Socialists Target Colorado Springs With Growing Activism And Local Campaigns
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Colorado Politics, Approved, Local

Democratic Socialists Target Colorado Springs With Growing Activism And Local Campaigns

By: Debbie Kelley | Colorado Politics If further proof is needed that the political arena in Colorado Springs isn’t like matchups in Denver, the Democratic Socialists of America is a case in point, say some people involved with the local chapter of the nationwide organization. It’s admittedly been difficult for the Colorado Springs branch of the DSA to organize in the conservative-leaning El Paso County in the successful way that deep-blue Denver has, according to Chauncy Johnson, a democratic socialist who has lost two recent bids for public office. Despite turbulence, local leaders say the chapter is growing and marching toward reaching its goals. As an intermittent card-carrying DSA member for three years, Johnson said he received assistance from the all-volu...
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GOP Candidate Michael Allen Calls for Return to Basics on Crime and Public Safety
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

GOP Candidate Michael Allen Calls for Return to Basics on Crime and Public Safety

By Thelma Grimes | Colorado Politics Michael Allen said he is running for attorney general because he believes Colorado’s criminal justice system has been weakened by recent legislation and that rising crime is directly increasing the cost of living. A Navy veteran and longtime prosecutor, Allen argued that Colorado needs an attorney general who focuses on public safety, rather than on “political lawsuits,” and who understands how crime drives up insurance rates, retail prices and business costs. He said his goal is to “get back to basics” — reducing crime to reduce costs. Allen is running against David Willson in the Republican primary. The winner of the GOP primary will advance to the general election to face one of the four Democratic candidates: Jena Griswol...
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Crank Says Colorado Springs Needs Results Not Anti-Trump Politics From Democrats
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Crank Says Colorado Springs Needs Results Not Anti-Trump Politics From Democrats

By Vince Bzdek | Colorado Politics For U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank, who’s unopposed in the Republican primary for the 5th Congressional District but the main target of both candidates in the lively Democratic primary, the big question in the midterms is not who will stand up to President Donald Trump best. “The question, and I think this will be one in this race, is, does this community just want somebody who’s anti-Trump to fight and push back on Trump? Or do they want somebody who, no matter who the president is, whether it’s Joe Biden or Donald Trump, is going to go try and work to represent this community and get the best things for this community that they can?” Crank has been criticized by the Democratic candidates Jessica Killin and Joe Reagan for not standing up to Tr...
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Wolf opponents ask federal officials to revisit Prop 114 after Keshel report challenges 2020 result
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Wolf opponents ask federal officials to revisit Prop 114 after Keshel report challenges 2020 result

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The fight over Colorado wolves has landed in a federal review process. Opponents of wolf reintroduction are asking federal officials to reconsider Colorado's wolf program after submitting a report that claims Proposition 114 did not actually pass. Colorado Conservation Alliance filed the report June 5 with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service during a federal review of Colorado's gray wolf program. Michael Clark, chairman of Colorado Conservation Alliance and CEO of Petrox Resources, signed the submission. The filing takes aim at a message Clark says Coloradans have heard for years. "The message has been both constant and assertive, Colorado's wolf program is 'the will of the people' because Proposition 114 passed," Clark wrote to U.S. F...
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Denver Post Backs Dougherty Over Griswold In Colorado AG Primary
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Denver Post Backs Dougherty Over Griswold In Colorado AG Primary

By Mike Krause | Complete Colorado (Editor’s note: The Denver Post endorsements linked are paywalled. Complete Colorado is offering this synopsis as a service to non-subscribing primary voters.) DENVER–The Denver Post editorial board on Monday endorsed Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty in the Democratic primary for Colorado Attorney General, passing over the race’s best-known candidate, current Secretary of State Jena Griswold. The Post considered all four Democrat candidates but focused its praise on Dougherty (as well as Hetal Doshi, a former federal prosecutor). While the board acknowledged Griswold as “the only candidate to have actually run a statewide agency,” that credential wasn’t enough. The endorsement makes clear that Dougherty “checked...
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