Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Government Accountability

A mother, a signature and a shutdown: The Waltmans’ five-year battle for answers
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

A mother, a signature and a shutdown: The Waltmans’ five-year battle for answers

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice In the photo Vira Waltman is 91, holding her great-granddaughter Everly. “She was joyful and funny,” said her granddaughter Lauren Tacheny. “She was teasing Everly about touching her Shirley Temple doll—that was her personality: protective, spunky and sharp-witted.” Vira Jean Waltman with her great-granddaughter Everly, weeks before Colorado’s COVID-19 lockdown. Up until the year before she died, Vira was still playing piano and organ at the All Saints Lutheran Church chapel in Brush every Christmas Eve service. “Music was everything to her,” said her grandson Ian Waltman. A law that disappeared behind glass For years, her son John Waltman carried his mother’s notarized Medical Durable Power of Attorney. “It was supp...
Colorado Among States That Handed Out $1.4B in Medicaid Funds to Illegals
The Federalist, Approved, National

Colorado Among States That Handed Out $1.4B in Medicaid Funds to Illegals

By: Breccan F. Thies | The Federalist Five states and Washington, D.C., funneled more than $1.35 billion in federal taxpayer Medicaid funding to illegals, according to a preliminary audit of the program completed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS Administrator Dr. Mehemet Oz posted the results of the preliminary audit on social media showing California, D.C., Illinois, Washington, Colorado, and Oregon spent millions each on illegals, with California spending the bulk, topping over $1.3 billion alone. That money, according to Oz, was spent “just in the last few months.” The left constantly claims this does not, or even cannot, happen because it is against federal law to use programs like Medicaid — something meant for Americans — fo...
DHS Report Finds FEMA Workers Logged Political Views of Hurricane Victims
TownHall.com, Approved, National

DHS Report Finds FEMA Workers Logged Political Views of Hurricane Victims

By: Leah Barkoukis | Townhall Last year, when devastating hurricanes hit the southeast coast of the U.S., higher-ups in FEMA ordered workers to discriminate against houses that displayed Trump campaign materials on their properties. Marn'i Washington, a FEMA official who was fired after ordering her subordinates to skip pro-Trump houses, gave an interview after her dismissal and claimed such discrimination was not an "isolated incident."  "FEMA always preaches avoidance first and then de-escalation, so this is not isolated," Washington said. "This is a colossal event of avoidance not just in the state of Florida, but you will find avoidance in the Carolinas." FEMA did pause aid in North Carolina, citing concerns over an "armed militia” threatening workers in th...
La Jara land deal raises questions about public access and state priorities
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

La Jara land deal raises questions about public access and state priorities

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Selling La Jara to conservation groups and the Feds, including a swap with CPW? I had a reader send me a heads up on the State Land Board’s (SLB) La Jara land deal. The reader had heard about it in a CPW meeting because CPW could be involved in the land swap. I wanted to push this out quick so you have a chance to sign up and speak (or email) prior to the October 15th State Land Board meeting. As such, I can’t go into huge amounts of depth or summarize. I can give you the information that’s publicly out there so you can look and decide for yourself. As a quick overview, the SLB is charged with management and leasing of the state’s publicly-owned lands with the mission of getting as much revenue from them as the...
Sources say former Trump aide John Bolton may be indicted within days
Just The News, Approved, National

Sources say former Trump aide John Bolton may be indicted within days

By Just the News staff | Just the News John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, is facing criminal charges as soon as next week, MSNBC investigative journalist Carol Leonnig reported Friday afternoon while on air. The acting U.S. attorney in Maryland is moving forward with the charges, Leonnig reported, citing two people familiar with the case. The case has been before a grand jury for several weeks investigating whether Bolton improperly possessed classified national security information in his Maryland home. Bolton was fired by Trump during his first administration and has been a frequent critic of the president.  The FBI conducted a surprise raid of Bolton’s home in Bethesda, Maryland, on Sept. 22 in what was reported as a search for su...
Fix It or Fund It: Inside the $361 million standoff over Colorado’s unfunded mandates
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Fix It or Fund It: Inside the $361 million standoff over Colorado’s unfunded mandates

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado counties say they’re done footing the bill for laws they didn’t fund. Citing a 1991 statute and more than $361 million in unfunded mandates, the Fix It or Fund It coalition is asserting that if the state won’t pay, local governments won’t comply. Mesa County Commissioner Bobbie Daniel didn’t set out to launch a statewide revolt. Two years ago, she created a spreadsheet to track state mandates that came without funding. The goal was to help department heads navigate budgeting headaches. But that quiet act of accounting has since grown into something far louder—a bipartisan movement spanning more than 36 counties, with local governments now invoking state law to declare state mandates “optional.” “We started this whole unfunded mandate...
When the prosecutor is also the judge: Colorado’s due process problem under Griswold’s watch
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

When the prosecutor is also the judge: Colorado’s due process problem under Griswold’s watch

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I wouldn’t blame someone for thinking the fix is in at a Colorado Administrative Law hearing (especially in the SOS’s Office). If you break one of our state regulatory agencies’ copious rules, the process for our state’s administrative hearings bears little resemblance to a real trial. I recently did some looking into the state’s administrative hearings process, and was disappointed in what I found.The idea of this being a hearing in front of an independent, nominally-impartial, and disinterested judge is decidedly NOT what the process looks like.This goes, as you might imagine for an office run by Jena Griswold, double for the Secretary of State’s Office.More in the op ed below.https://completecolorado.com/2025/09/22/p...
NIH-funded study buried findings of elevated COVID vaccine risks on children
Just The News, Approved, National

NIH-funded study buried findings of elevated COVID vaccine risks on children

By Greg Piper | Just the News NIH-funded study of "long COVID" and reinfection hides findings on risks stratified by vaccination status deep in a supplement, contradicting researchers' conclusions and media narrative that vaccines are the answer. The Trump administration's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the nail in the coffin of one-size-fits-all COVID-19 vaccine recommendations Monday, updating its children and adult vaccination schedules to encourage physicians, nurses and pharmacists to discuss harms and benefits from vaccination specific to each patient before they get jabbed. Parents may get an incomplete picture from healthcare providers who don't look too closely at federally funded research that promotes indiscriminate COVID jabs for kids, though....
Lawsuit Claims VA Diverted Medical Resources from Veterans to Aid Illegal Immigrants
The Daily Signal, Approved, National

Lawsuit Claims VA Diverted Medical Resources from Veterans to Aid Illegal Immigrants

By Virginia Allen | The Daily Signal The Veterans Affairs Department is facing a lawsuit after failing to disclose information related to the department’s alleged improper use of medical resources during the Biden administration to benefit illegal immigrants.   Following a Daily Signal report in August 2024, a policy organization in Washington asked the VA for more information related to its reputed use of employees to process cases of illegal aliens at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Health Service Corps. The Center to Advance Security in America, or CASA, received none of the information it requested from the VA. “After CASA learned that the Biden administration was diverting resources from the VA to provide medical exam...
Watchdog Shock: FBI Had Three Sources on Biden Ukraine Dealings, Investigated None
Approved, Just The News, National

Watchdog Shock: FBI Had Three Sources on Biden Ukraine Dealings, Investigated None

By John Solomon | Just the News More whistleblowers than previously known came forward alleging Biden family corruption in Ukraine. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley wants to get to the bottom of why the FBI failed to fully investigate the allegations. The FBI had three separate confidential sources who reported the Biden family was engaged in corruption in Ukraine. However, FBI Director Kash Patel says that there is no record that the bureau sought to thoroughly investigate those claims.   Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., released two new FBI FD-1023s—records of reporting from the bureau’s confidential human sources—that focus on allegations of Biden family corruption. These records match closely to a previous mem...