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Tag: Executive order

Lord Polis now plans your town through ‘strategic growth’ mandates
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ScottKJames.com, Approved, Commentary, State

Lord Polis now plans your town through ‘strategic growth’ mandates

By Scott K. James | Commentary, ScottKJames.com One smart post about Colorado land-use policy sent me digging – what I found says a lot about where the state is really heading. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – being a Weld County Commissioner has its perks, and I’m not just talking about the bad coffee and the occasional angry email in ALL CAPS. I’ve had the good fortune to meet some dangerously smart, surprisingly cool people in this gig. Case in point: Chris Richardson. Chris and I crossed paths back when he was repping Elbert County as a County Commissioner. Then, in a moment of what I can only assume was temporary insanity, he decided to run for the Colorado House. Somehow, the voters in HD 56 took the bait, and now he’s down at the Capitol, actually doing the job ...
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Polis threatens to withhold $280M from cities defying housing laws in new executive order
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Polis threatens to withhold $280M from cities defying housing laws in new executive order

By Brandon Richard | Denver7 In a new executive order, Gov. Jared Polis identified more than 30 funding sources the state could withhold from cities. DENVER — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is turning up the heat on cities that aren’t following new state housing laws. He issued a new executive order on Wednesday that identifies $280 million in funding that could be withheld from them. It’s the latest development in a dispute between the governor and leaders of several cities over state housing laws, including laws to increase housing density near transit and another to ban certain cities from enacting or enforcing minimum parking requirements. “I hope that communities across the state do more on housing, but there's got to be some state minimum that you can't actively be part of ...
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DEI grants under fire: AFL targets NIH-funded “junk science” in $30M purge
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, National, Top Stories

DEI grants under fire: AFL targets NIH-funded “junk science” in $30M purge

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice America First Legal (AFL) has brought renewed attention to the termination of 18 National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants in 2025, sharing a detailed report in a thread posted on X on July 16. The group’s findings highlight a series of projects it characterizes as race-based and ideologically driven—grants funded during the Biden Administration and later canceled under new Trump Administration directives. https://twitter.com/america1stlegal/status/1945302705427099843?s=61 The AFL thread meticulously documents many of the terminated grants, spotlighting specific examples that have drawn significant scrutiny.  Among them is a $740,000 grant awarded to New York University to assess diversity effects in medical sch...
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Cities sue Polis over housing mandate, cite threat to local control
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Approved, Local, State, The Colorado Sun

Cities sue Polis over housing mandate, cite threat to local control

By Bente Birkeland | Colorado Sun A lawsuit filed Monday argues the state is violating the right of local governments to shape how they grow and develop Six “home rule” cities in Colorado are suing the state, alleging it has unconstitutionally usurped their local authority over land use and zoning as it pushes communities to allow denser housing development.  The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of an executive order Gov. Jared Polis signed last week to withhold some state grants from local communities if they fail to implement a slate of recent housing laws. The cities say the order encroaches on the powers of both the General Assembly and the judiciary to say what the law is and is “beyond the governor’s authority.” The cities are also asking the courts to f...
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Governor’s executive order threatening loss of funding draws fire for overriding local housing control
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Approved, CBS Colorado, Local, State

Governor’s executive order threatening loss of funding draws fire for overriding local housing control

By Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is putting local governments on notice: Either they comply with state housing laws, or they risk losing at least $100 million a year in state funding. The governor signed an executive order that takes the battle over local control to a new level. Over the last two years, he's signed bills regarding residential occupancy limits and accessory dwelling units, transit-oriented communities and manufactured homes, and even limits on staircases and parking spots. But not everyone is on board with the new laws. Some local governments have flat out refused to comply. So the governor is upping the ante. "What we are doing now is making sure we are putting our money where our mouth is," Gov. Polis told CBS Colorado.  Polis signed an ex...
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School board in El Paso County moves to restrict transgender athletes, citing safety and fairness
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Approved, Local, The Colorado Sun

School board in El Paso County moves to restrict transgender athletes, citing safety and fairness

By Ann Schimke | Colorado Sun At an April school board meeting near Colorado Springs, debate raged over a proposed policy to ban transgender students from playing on school sports teams that match their gender identity. A high school student named Sadie, who spoke against the policy, asked why her district would need a blanket policy when a tiny percentage of student athletes are transgender. A 60-year-old man who supported the policy and described himself as stronger than any woman in the building claimed a transgender girl could slam a ball into a girl’s head hard enough to put her in the hospital. A father opposed to the policy said his son, a district student, has an extra X chromosome and suggested gender is more complicated than it seems. He said of the proposed policy...
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Colorado law limits what voters can verify—and critics say that needs to change
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Approved, Local, National, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado law limits what voters can verify—and critics say that needs to change

By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Mesa County’s Ballot Verifier tool has been praised for giving residents unprecedented access to redacted ballot images and cast vote records. But for some longtime election integrity advocates, it’s only part of the solution. “This is a great step forward,” said Ed Arnos, a Mesa County resident and former lottery systems designer. “But it doesn’t verify the most important part—how the ballots were actually read.” This article is Part 3 of a three-part series on the Ballot Verifier: Mesa’s launch, Ada County’s pilot and the debate over election transparency laws. A philosophical divide Mesa County residents Tom Keenan and Ed Arnos have supported election transparency efforts for years. But both say the current syste...
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Colorado refuses to certify DEI removal order, risks $800M in school funds
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Approved, Chalkbeat Colorado, National, State

Colorado refuses to certify DEI removal order, risks $800M in school funds

By Melanie Asmar | Chalkbeat Colorado Colorado will refuse a demand from the Trump administration to certify that its schools have eliminated what the federal government says are illegal diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, state Commissioner of Education Susana Córdova said Thursday. “I am not signing that,” Córdova said. “I am not asking our districts to sign that.” However, Córdova told the State Board of Education she will sign a new assurance that the state is in compliance with Title VI, which bans discrimination on the basis of race, “so that my name, in addition to the department’s previous commissioner who signed our previous assurance, is on file and on record to be able to indicate that we are fully enforcing Title VI.” The U.S. Department of Educatio...
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Griswold sues against Trump’s executive order on elections but is a case study for it
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Approved, National, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Griswold sues against Trump’s executive order on elections but is a case study for it

By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board When Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced that she was joining a multi-state lawsuit to block President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) on election integrity, she declared the action a defense of democracy itself. “We will not wait on the sidelines while Donald Trump tries to legislate from the Oval Office and defies the Constitution,” Griswold said in an April 3 press release. But while Griswold accuses President Trump of federal overreach, her own record suggests a pattern of constitutional violations that have unfolded under the banner of election protection.  In fact, her treatment of Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters has become a case study in why federal oversight of elections—as President Trump’s EO proposes—may be more nec...
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Trump order sparks backlash from Colorado election officials over proof of citizenship rule
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Approved, kdvr.com, State

Trump order sparks backlash from Colorado election officials over proof of citizenship rule

By Heather Willard | Fox31 News DENVER (KDVR) — President Donald Trump signed a new executive order Tuesday that would overhaul U.S. elections. The order includes requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, among other measures. Colorado elections officials called the order “unlawful.” Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold told FOX31 that her office is still reviewing the entire order in conjunction with the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, but said the order would, in some states, “effectively become a poll tax.” The executive order is called “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” with a stated goal of cultivating free, fair and honest elections. The order requires proof of citizenship on national...
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