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Tag: Governor Jared Polis

Tracking the untracked: The dangerous fallout of Biden’s broken migrant child system
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, National, Top Stories

Tracking the untracked: The dangerous fallout of Biden’s broken migrant child system

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Each year, children continue to arrive at the southern border without anyone to look after them. They’re officially called unaccompanied alien children—or UACs—but behind that label are thousands of kids trying to navigate an immigration system meant for adults.  Many are handed off to sponsors with little vetting, and some end up trafficked, working illegal jobs, or worse. The surge in vulnerable children Back in the early 2000s, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) was handling fewer than 8,000 unaccompanied kids a year. But that’s changed dramatically.  By 2022, that figure had climbed to over 128,000. The following year saw more than 113,000 children placed with sponsors across the U.S. As of Jul...
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Colorado’s Housing Crisis: Not Enough Homes Fuels Third-Highest Rent in America
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State, Approved, denvergazette.com

Colorado’s Housing Crisis: Not Enough Homes Fuels Third-Highest Rent in America

By Marissa Ventrelli | The Denver Gazette Colorado had the third highest rent and fifth highest home prices in 2023, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis from a zoning group. Compiled by a group called National Zoning Atlas, the analysis examined zoning codes in all 334 of Colorado's jurisdictions to assess how zoning affects housing affordability in the state. Of those 334 jurisdictions, 275 have zoning codes — but not all are openly available to the public, the analysis said. "Affordable" housing has been a top priority of Gov. Jared Polis since he was first elected in 2019, a goal shared by policymakers, though they often sharpy differ how to achieve that aim. Some push for greater density as a solution to many of the state's urban problems. In Denver, that reason...
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17 Colorado sheriffs to Polis: Fix inmate transfer crisis straining local jails
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denvergazette.com, Approved, State

17 Colorado sheriffs to Polis: Fix inmate transfer crisis straining local jails

By Marissa Ventrelli | Denver Gazette A coalition of 17 county sheriffs urged Gov. Jared Polis to resolve the Department of Corrections' backlog in inmate transfers and increase what the local officials described as the state's inadequate reimbursement rate for housing inmates in county jails. Current conditions are unsustainable according the group. In a letter signed by the sheriffs of El Paso, Douglas, Pueblo, and other counties, the group warned that prolonged delays in transferring of DOC-sentenced inmates from county jails into state custody, combined with what they called an "outdated and underfunded" per diem reimbursement rate, is creating a fiscal and public safety crisis.  "County jails were never designed — or funded — to house state inmates for extended periods,”...
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Gazette editorial board: Why taxing servers and medics is political malpractice
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denvergazette.com, Approved, Commentary, State

Gazette editorial board: Why taxing servers and medics is political malpractice

The Gazette editorial board | Commentary, Denver Gazette You’d think our state’s ruling Democrats would be doing their level best to win back the working class in advance of next year’s national midterm election. It will be a referendum, after all, on the Trump presidency and congressional Republicans — who won power last year with the support of workers long deemed the sole domain of the Democratic Party. Yet, Colorado’s Legislature and Gov. Jared Polis decided to gut-punch Colorado workers, instead — by essentially taxing their hard-earned overtime wages. That provision was buried in an obscure, wide-ranging bill innocuously titled, “Tax Expenditure Adjustment,” which lawmakers passed this spring. Polis signed it into law in May. The state’s overtime tax is intended to offset fe...
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Gaines: Watch the framing—Karlik’s slant and Polis’ quiet appointments
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Gaines: Watch the framing—Karlik’s slant and Polis’ quiet appointments

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Colorado Politics' Karlik lets his bias slip (again). Colorado Politics judicial reporter Michael Karlik is back at it (see the first link below for an earlier post about his reporting). If it's not using his pen to question the motives of a conservative judge, it's tossing softballs at a liberal judge rather than challenging him. It's framing his questions in such a way as to clearly indicate what the point of the whole endeavor has been. The Colorado Politics article linked second below is a Q and A Karlik had with retired judge John Leopold** to discuss Leopold's signing an amicus brief about the arrests of Minnesota Judge Hannah Dugan. She was the one who hustled someone ICE had a warrant for out the back door whe...
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DEI at a cost: Colorado schools caught in $70M federal freeze
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, State, Top Stories

DEI at a cost: Colorado schools caught in $70M federal freeze

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado public schools are facing a $70 million funding freeze—part of a broader $6.8 billion nationwide hold triggered by the U.S. Department of Education. At the heart of the conflict are federal objections to DEI and LGBTQIA+ initiatives in schools, which have already led to lawsuits and pushed districts to search for new funding before fall. The freeze and federal justification The funding suspension follows executive orders issued by the Trump administration in early 2025. According to a July 2 notice sent to state education departments, the Department of Education is reviewing already-approved funds to ensure they align with new presidential priorities. Governor Jared Polis responded the same day, calling the act...
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El Paso County sheriff transfers 19 illegal immigrant offenders to ICE
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denvergazette.com, Approved, Local

El Paso County sheriff transfers 19 illegal immigrant offenders to ICE

By Aidan Hulting | Denver Gazette Nineteen people who the El Paso County Sheriff's Office says were in the country illegally, and have allegedly committed crimes in El Paso County, are now in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. This marks the second list the El Paso County Sheriff's Office has released this summer detailing its ongoing cooperation with ICE. “As part of our continued commitment to transparency, I am once again releasing a list of individuals and their associated criminal charges related to the safe and secure transfer of custody to our federal partners at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” said El Paso County Sheriff Joseph Roybal. “We will continue to provide this information in a timely manner to demonstrate compliance with Colorad...
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The COvid Chronicles June 8–15, 2020: Can’t visit grandma—but defund-the-police protests are doctor-approved
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State, Top Stories

The COvid Chronicles June 8–15, 2020: Can’t visit grandma—but defund-the-police protests are doctor-approved

By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board In this eighth chapter of The COvid Chronicles, the absurd became policy. You could chant in a crowd but not hold your father’s hand in the hospital. Visiting grandma was dangerous. Rioting, doctor-approved. The week was long. So is the memory of what they let unravel. By mid-June, Colorado’s citizens, corporations and governing bodies had been cowered into full complicity. The angry activists who long despised democracy finally found their authoritarian moment—and seized it with glee. It was pure bliss for the non-peaceful “progressive” puritans now in power. While COVID numbers steadily improved, health providers across the state lobbied to keep patients isolated and suffering—all while marching in lockstep to cure what they claimed was...
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Colorado’s New Gun Dealer Law Slaps Small Business With Big Government Red Tape
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State, Approved, kdvr.com

Colorado’s New Gun Dealer Law Slaps Small Business With Big Government Red Tape

By Gabby Easterwood | KDVR Fox31 LONGMONT, Colo. (KDVR) — A portion of House Bill 24-1353 has gone into effect as of July 1, and firearm dealers say it’s just another burden for their businesses. The portion taking effect requires firearm dealers to have a state permit. Lawmakers have said the goal of the bill is to crack down on illegal firearm sales. Part of the law went into effect in 2024, and the final part went into effect starting in July, requiring that firearm dealers have a state firearms dealer permit, where they must hold a federal firearms license and other requirements. But firearm dealers like Rod Brandenburg, owner of Grandpa’s Pawn and Gun, say it’s just another unnecessary hoop they have to jump through. “They’re putting a huge burden on us and they can enforc...
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Study finds 70% of Colorado land zoned for housing prohibits affordable housing options
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Study finds 70% of Colorado land zoned for housing prohibits affordable housing options

By Brian Eason | Colorado Sun In the first comprehensive review of Colorado land use laws, the National Zoning Atlas found that you can build single-family homes almost anywhere. But apartments, condos and townhomes are widely prohibited. You can build a house almost anywhere in Colorado. You just can’t build one that most people can afford. That’s the stark takeaway from a landmark zoning report released last month by the National Zoning Atlas, a group of researchers who have spent the last two years conducting a first-of-its-kind study of land use codes across 334 Colorado cities, towns and unincorporated areas. The group found that on the vast majority of land, in the vast majority of Colorado communities, it’s not just difficult to build housing the average hou...
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