Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Local Government

Federal Lawsuit Challenges Northglenn Over Church Activities At Public Park
Complete Colorado, Approved, Local

Federal Lawsuit Challenges Northglenn Over Church Activities At Public Park

By Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado DENVER–Several recent legal motions related to an ongoing lawsuit against the City of Northglenn seek dismissal of citations issued to members of three Colorado churches for hosting a public worship and charity event at a city park. The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a public interest law firm specializing in religious freedom, filed a lawsuit in federal court in November on behalf of those cited and other church members. Northglenn, with around 38,000 residents, is a home rule municipality in the north metro Denver area. Starting in July 2020, Brave Church, and The Crossing Church–both located in neighboring Westminster–as well as Next Step Church located in Thornton, began hosting religious ministry gatherings ...
Behind the zero: What Colorado’s opening day didn’t say about the true cost of lawmaking
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Behind the zero: What Colorado’s opening day didn’t say about the true cost of lawmaking

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice “Governor Polis told us we should please work together,” Sen. Janice Rich said Wednesday, recounting a recent exchange as she stood on the Senate floor during opening session. Inside the chamber, legislative leaders spoke about shared goals and economic pressure on families. What didn’t make it into the speeches, according to Rich, was where many of the real financial consequences of those bills are already hiding. Rich, the Senate Minority Whip and vice chair of the Statutory Revision Committee, said the optimistic tone often masks how legislation actually moves once the gavels come down—particularly in how costs are presented, debated and ultimately shifted onto taxpayers and local governments. “They say they want to work...
Adams County Expands Fight Against Human Trafficking With Specialized Detectives
kdvr.com, Approved, Local

Adams County Expands Fight Against Human Trafficking With Specialized Detectives

By Vicente Arenas | KDVR FOX31 COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (KDVR) — The Adams County Sheriff’s Office says it has a new tool go after human traffickers and help save victims. The sheriff’s office has launched a new Human Trafficking Unit inside its Detective Division. That division will target prostitution, exploitation and human trafficking across unincorporated Adams County. Sheriff officials said the unit will bring focused enforcement, victim advocacy and interagency collaboration to combat exploitation, which includes both adults and children. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT KDVR FOX31
Aurora council immigration resolution sparks warnings from police chief, draws resident response
Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Aurora council immigration resolution sparks warnings from police chief, draws resident response

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Aurora City Council took up immigration enforcement Monday night and approved a resolution criticizing federal actions it described as unlawful and overreaching. The item arrived late on the agenda. It did not immediately change city policy. But it didn’t fade into the background, either. Council members pointed to several incidents they said shaped the decision. One involved the death of a Colorado woman during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Minnesota. Others cited included reported illness concerns at the GEO ICE detention facility in Aurora and a recent arrest involving a parent and child. In the resolution’s language, council members said both U.S. citizens and immigrants...
Summit County Sheriff Cuts 13 Positions After Commissioners Slash Budget
DENVER7, Approved, Local

Summit County Sheriff Cuts 13 Positions After Commissioners Slash Budget

By: Robert Garrison | Denver7 SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. — Summit County’s newly adopted 2026 budget has resulted in 13 Sheriff’s Office positions being eliminated, Summit County Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons announced Monday. FitzSimons emphasized, “No frontline detention, patrol, or supervisory positions were cut.” However, as of Friday following the final budget adoption for 2026, the following positions were eliminated to meet budgetary constraints: READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT DENVER7
Counties told to fix energy policy they didn’t create: Mesa commissioner pushes back
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Counties told to fix energy policy they didn’t create: Mesa commissioner pushes back

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Mesa County Commissioner JJ Fletcher said he wasn’t looking to start a political fight when he published a recent op-ed questioning Colorado’s rapid move away from natural gas. What he wanted, Fletcher said, was to put a practical concern on the record—one he hears repeatedly from rural counties. Fletcher said the problem has become harder to ignore in recent weeks. With power shutoffs in December, higher utility bills and public anger spilling into regulatory hearings, he said counties are being asked to answer for decisions they didn’t make. In an interview with RMV, Fletcher said the message from state leaders has been consistent: counties are expected to deal with the impacts of electrification, even though they don’t contr...
Election Case Developments Raise New Questions for Hillsdale County Leaders
Hillsdale Conservatives, Approved, Commentary, National

Election Case Developments Raise New Questions for Hillsdale County Leaders

By: Staff |Commentary, Hillsdale Conservatives For more than a year, the case of People v. Scott has been framed as a test of whether a township clerk defied lawful authority. That framing no longer survives the courtroom record. What now exists, undeniably and permanently, is sworn testimony by state and county officials admitting that they acted without legal authority, followed by a judicial dismissal of the only charge that justified a raid, a search warrant, and years of public accusation. At this stage, the most serious question facing Hillsdale County is no longer about one township clerk. It is about why the officials who are legally obligated to act when credible evidence of unlawful conduct is revealed have chosen not to. The Record Is No ...
Denver Audit Finds Office of Social Equity and Innovation Still Falling Short on Financial Oversight
The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Denver Audit Finds Office of Social Equity and Innovation Still Falling Short on Financial Oversight

By Deborah Grigsby | The Denver Gazette Denver’s Office of Social Equity and Innovation has yet to implement half of the 14 recommendations made by auditors in 2024, leaving the city and the Colorado Youth Detention Continuum Program at risk of misusing small-dollar funds. A follow-up report released by City Auditor Tim O’Brien on Thursday noted that, while the office has made progress, gaps involving policies and procedures, inconsistent financial records and insufficient monitoring of grant-related expenses remain. Denver’s Chief Equity Officer Ben Sanders told The Denver Gazette that much of what is in the auditor’s report about the youth detention program is “fair.” “The auditor is auditing a program that transitioned, starting in the summer of 2024, from th...
Loveland City Council Votes To Reset Homelessness Policy
CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Loveland City Council Votes To Reset Homelessness Policy

By Dillon Thomas | CBS Colorado The city of Loveland is moving forward with two major changes to the way it is tackling homelessness in Northern Colorado. In a Loveland City Council meeting that lasted until nearly 2 a.m. Wednesday, the council finalized two votes to start making changes. "We have been a failure at (addressing homelessness). We need to do something different," said council member Kalina Middleton of ward three. The overall sentiment of everyone in attendance for the meeting was that Loveland needs to change the way it addresses topics involving the unhoused. No matter which side of the debate people fell on, everyone seemed to agree the current situation was not sustainable. "As Loveland continues to grow, the unhoused population for b...
There is No Such Thing as “Non-Partisan” 
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

There is No Such Thing as “Non-Partisan” 

By Michael J Badagliacco, “MJB” | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice I recently stumbled across yet another sanctimonious article whining that school boards, city councils, and other local bodies are supposed to be “non-partisan.” The author practically clutched their pearls at the thought of politics creeping into these sacred spaces. Absolute BUNK! There is no such thing as “non-partisan,” never has been, and pretending otherwise is intellectual dishonesty wrapped in a bow of naive wishful thinking. The “Non-Partisan” Myth Is a Dangerous Delusion This whole non-partisan charade is sold as some noble experiment: take the big, bad party labels off the ballot and, poof, suddenly everyone becomes a pure-hearted servant of the public good, free from ideology, bias, or...