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Mesa County sheriff appeals budget constraints that could cut 28 deputies
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Mesa County sheriff appeals budget constraints that could cut 28 deputies

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Mesa County Sheriff Todd Rowell appeared before the Board of County Commissioners on Nov. 6, 2025, to warn that this year’s budget proposal could undo nearly a decade of progress under the 2017 voter-approved 0.37% public-safety sales tax. The budget appeal on the third floor of the county administration building doubled as a press conference, drawing commissioners, staff and reporters eager to see what “doing more with less” means for Mesa County public safety. Sheriff Todd Rowell, right, speaks with Commissioner Bobbie Daniel and Undersheriff Matt King during the Nov. 6 budget appeal in Grand Junction. Rowell said the math no longer works. “I gave up five deputies to submit a flat budget… 13 more were defunded… $980,000 in line-item...
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Erasing My Line in the Sand: How Montrose County Proved Colorado’s “Blueprint” is Complete
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Erasing My Line in the Sand: How Montrose County Proved Colorado’s “Blueprint” is Complete

By Sean Pond | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Earlier this year, I wrote in these pages that “The Constitution isn’t a suggestion. It’s a line in the sand.” I meant every word of it. I said I was done being quiet. I said this was no longer about politics, it was about survival. The survival of liberty, of local control, and of the rural Colorado way of life. I believed I was drawing that line on firm ground, in one of the last conservative strongholds in the state, Montrose County. I was wrong. This week’s recall of Commissioner Scott Mijares did not just remove one man from office. It erased that line in the sand. Not with a court ruling or a federal order, but with a ballot. With a local vote. If you think your county is safe from what just happened here, you are l...
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The conservative candidates—Sheldon Kier and Adena Kreutz—are best for Delta Schools
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

The conservative candidates—Sheldon Kier and Adena Kreutz—are best for Delta Schools

By Angie Many | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice As Colorado mandates more and more laws affecting students and school districts, school board elections have become increasingly important. Unfortunately, despite the importance of electing members to guide school policies, such ‘off-year’ elections traditionally have poor voter turnout. ‘We the people’ need to start paying more attention and devoting a little time to learning more about the people who will have such an impact on the education – and the indoctrination – that our children receive. And then we need to vote. Delta County has five candidates in this year’s school board election. Two of them will, in my opinion, help to restore common sense and sanity to school policies and keep government influence at a minimum. ...
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Audit Finds Financial Strain Growing in 16 Colorado School Districts
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Audit Finds Financial Strain Growing in 16 Colorado School Districts

By: Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Sixteen school districts in Colorado, almost all of them rural, are showing signs of financial stress, according to an audit released on the fiscal health of the state’s 178 public school districts. Eighteen other districts, however, are moving off the list with improvements to their fiscal health in the 2023-24 fiscal year. The Ellicott School District, east of Colorado Springs, was under the bullseye Monday, with five missed benchmarks in 2023-24, up from one in 2022-23. The district had no missed benchmarks just two years earlier.  School districts with two or more missed financial benchmarks, 2021-2022 to 2023-24. Of the 16 school districts that missed financial benchmarks, four were in rural El Paso County. The...
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Colorado must stop pushing unfunded laws on local governments, lawmakers say
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The Daily Sentinel, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado must stop pushing unfunded laws on local governments, lawmakers say

By Rick Taggart, Janice Rich and Matt Soper | Commentary, The Daily Sentinel When lawmakers pass a new bill, there’s one question we should all ask before we vote: Who’s going to pay for it? Too often, that question goes unanswered. Across Colorado, local governments are being asked to carry out new state laws — on everything from wildfire codes to building standards — without the funding to make them possible. These are called unfunded mandates, and they’ve quietly become one of the biggest threats to local budgets and the essential services people depend on. In Mesa County alone, these mandates now cost nearly $10 million each year. Statewide, the total is estimated at more than $360 million — money that could otherwise fund deputies, road repairs, or mental health programs. Ins...
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The County That Said No
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

The County That Said No

By Sean M. Pond | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice There are moments in history when ordinary people must decide if they will remain silent or rise up. If they will be ruled or govern themselves. If they will allow outsiders to rewrite their way of life, or if they will draw a line and say, "This far, and no further." Montrose County just drew that line. I authored and introduced Ordinance 2025-01, a landmark measure that would prohibit the introduction, facilitation, or establishment of non-native animal species in our county. It has passed its first reading and entered a 30-day public review period before coming back for final consideration. And while this ordinance may seem narrow in scope, it represents something far greater. It is a declaration of sovereignty. It is a d...
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Why is Denver trying to buy Western Slope school boards?
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Why is Denver trying to buy Western Slope school boards?

By Christy Anderson | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice In the Grand Junction area you may have seen flyers in your mailbox accusing our current school board members, Andrea Haitz, Angela Lema and “Willie” (Will) Jones of being “enemies” who “cannot be trusted.” These false attack ads come from Denver’s “Students Deserve Better” campaign. After digging into the financials, Students Deserve Better is also majorly funded by none other than the Colorado Education Association.  The teachers union has a long history that started in the 1970s of using money to influence local elections, but this year’s spending is unprecedented. The Colorado Education Association (CEA) is pouring tens of thousands of dollars into our local school board race to regain control and push their highly...
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Aurora Pushes Back on Polis’ Power Play Over Local Housing
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Commentary, Local

Aurora Pushes Back on Polis’ Power Play Over Local Housing

By: Michael A. Hancock | Commentary, The Denver Gazette Aurora has experienced rapid growth in recent decades. With new neighborhoods, transit corridors and shifting demographics come tough land-use choices: where to build housing, protect open space, manage traffic, and preserve neighborhood character. We understand our communities better than distant state bureaucrats ever could. That’s what home rule is meant to guarantee. But today, Gov. Jared Polis and the Colorado legislature are challenging that guarantee – not with persuasion, but with edicts and threats of financial punishment. Aurora can’t stand silent. Colorado’s Constitution enshrines home rule in Article XX, Section 6, which grants municipalities the right to govern “matters of local concern,” including planning, zoni...
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Trump Layoffs Hit Left-Leaning HUD Office Accused of Obama-Era Social Engineering
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Daily Wire, Approved, National

Trump Layoffs Hit Left-Leaning HUD Office Accused of Obama-Era Social Engineering

By: Luke Rosiak | The Daily Wire When the government shutdown ends, some workers at left-wing government offices may not return. More than 400 employees at the Department of Housing and Urban Development were issued layoff notices on Friday, primarily targeting an office that pushed left-wing ideology, a department official told The Daily Wire. The federal government has been shut down for more than two weeks, with only “essential” workers reporting for duty, as Democrats refuse to grant a temporary funding extension unless Republicans add in new funding. The Trump administration said in a court filing that some 4,000 workers across seven agencies should be laid off instead. A HUD official said the largest office targeted by the 442 layoffs at that agency is the Fair ...
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