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Federal Judge Dismisses Mesa Sheriff Challenge to Colorado Immigration Law
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Federal Judge Dismisses Mesa Sheriff Challenge to Colorado Immigration Law

By Michael Karlik | The Denver Gazette A federal judge dismissed a challenge from Mesa County Sheriff’s Office leaders last week to a Colorado law limiting public employees’ cooperation with immigration authorities, concluding that the plaintiffs did not allege they engage in any conduct that the law would prohibit. In a July 17 order, U.S. District Court Judge Gordon P. Gallagher noted that lawmakers only forbade the sharing of personal information “for the purpose of” immigration enforcement. Even then, the law contains exceptions for authorized criminal investigations or necessary duties. “The Court respects that Plaintiffs’ wish to ensure they understand, both for individual reasons and on behalf of the agencies they head or work for, the current bounds of the law ...
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Trump Election Security Address Draws Sharp Responses Across Colorado
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KJCT-TV ABC 8, Approved, National

Trump Election Security Address Draws Sharp Responses Across Colorado

By: Rachee Hatch | KJCT 8 GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) - Colorado state and federal lawmakers from both parties responded to President Donald Trump’s Thursday night address, in which he alleged the nation’s current election system exposes high levels of foreign interference ahead of the November midterm elections. During the address, Trump released unclassified documents he said showed China interfered in the 2020 election, which Trump lost to former President Joe Biden. “For many years I’ve called for bold, swift, and decisive action to protect the integrity of America’s elections,” Trump said. “Every American deserves to know that when they cast their vote, that vote will be counted accurately in a system, and that is to make that system secure, one where cheating an...
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Colorado Offers Tax Relief for Residents and Businesses Hit by Wildfires
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kdvr.com, Approved, State

Colorado Offers Tax Relief for Residents and Businesses Hit by Wildfires

By: Breana Sinclair | KDVR MESA COUNTY, Colo. (KREX) — Due to multiple wildfires burning throughout the state, including the Gold Mountain, Elk and Snyder Fires, Governor Jared Polis and the Department of Revenue (DOR) announced extended deadlines and state tax relief options for affected individuals and businesses. Since Polis declared an emergency for the Aspen Acres, Ferris, Gold Mountain, Willow, Sharpe, Poitrey Canyon, Snyder, Green Ridge and Big Sheep Fires, the residents in the following counties are eligible: Dolores, Montezuma, Lake, Mesa, Pueblo, Custer, Ouray, Las Animas, Baca, Routt, San Miguel and Huerfano counties. The list of eligibility may expand based on any new emergency declarations. With the announcement, DOR extende...
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The case for Flock cameras: A proven tool Colorado shouldn’t abandon
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

The case for Flock cameras: A proven tool Colorado shouldn’t abandon

By Booker Lightman | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Police departments across Colorado have installed AI-powered Flock cameras to help them catch criminals. Not everyone is grateful. The fiercest opposition has come from the political Left, often driven by fears the cameras will aid ICE. These concerns led Denver to drop its contract with Flock, while a bill in the state legislature that would have required warrants for most searches of license plate data died in April after pushback from law enforcement.  Some on the Right have joined the anti-Flock crusade, concerned about the cameras’ supposed threat to privacy. Flock critics often claim the cameras are unnecessary and that the proper solution to crime is to hire more police officers. The people best placed to ...
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Colorado’s primary audit is underway. Here’s what it checks—and what it doesn’t
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s primary audit is underway. Here’s what it checks—and what it doesn’t

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Before Colorado's June 30 primary results become official, counties across Colorado must complete one of the final steps required by state election law: a post-election risk-limiting audit. Mesa County completed its audit Tuesday. "Mesa pulled 115 with zero discrepancies," Mesa County Clerk Bobbie Gross told RMV. The audit compares randomly selected paper ballot cards with how the voting system recorded the votes on them. It does not review every part of the election. What the audit checks Colorado law requires a risk-limiting audit after every primary, general, coordinated, recall and congressional vacancy election. State law describes it as a statistical audit intended to reduce the risk of certifying an incorrect election outc...
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The Tina Peters trial became a fight over whether the system could withstand public inspection.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

The Tina Peters trial became a fight over whether the system could withstand public inspection.

By Joe Oltmann | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The American people have been told, over and over, to trust institutions that have not earned that trust. Not Republican institutions. Not Democratic institutions. Not federal agencies. Not state bureaucracies. Not corporate vendors. Not partisan prosecutors. Not judges who hide behind procedure while the public asks basic questions. Not media outlets that decide in advance who the villain is and then write every story backward from that conclusion. That is the frame through which the Tina Peters case should be understood. The establishment version says Tina Peters is an “election denier” who let an unauthorized person access Mesa County, Colorado election equipment. That is the sanitized institutional story. The people’s...
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No way out: Rural Colorado is outvoted at every turn
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

No way out: Rural Colorado is outvoted at every turn

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Tom Harrington manages a 500-cow operation on the Crystal River Ranch, two miles from the town of Carbondale on a mesa west of town.  He grew up in Ridgway.  A friend sent him some papers from the North Park area of Walden showing the school news, a note from the old folks' home and local ads. "I looked through these papers and I thought, man, this is like the 70s in Ridgway," he said. Those things have disappeared from the Carbondale he lives in now. "They've certainly left here." He has also watched the valley floor transform in his 18 years on the ranch, hayfields replaced by a shopping complex and apartment buildings, the quiet gone with it. "Once things are paved over," he said, "they never come back....
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Grand Junction Pays Tribute to Three Firefighters Lost in Snyder Fire
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DENVER7, Approved, Local

Grand Junction Pays Tribute to Three Firefighters Lost in Snyder Fire

By Robert Garrison | Denver7 GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — The three firefighters killed in the Snyder Fire west of Grand Junction last month were remembered and honored during a memorial service Sunday. Federal firefighters Emily Barker, 38, Nick Hutcherson, 27, and Sydney Watson, 27, were killed June 27 fighting the more than 30,000-acre wildfire on the Colorado-Utah state line. Authorities said they were trying to shield themselves from flames by deploying tent-like shelters when they were overcome. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT DENVER7
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FEMA Approves Additional Fire Aid as Colorado Wildfires Burn Across State
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

FEMA Approves Additional Fire Aid as Colorado Wildfires Burn Across State

By Nicholas Fogleman | The Denver Gazette Gov. Jared Polis announced Sunday that FEMA approved a Fire Management Assistance Grant for the Willow fire as firefighting efforts continue across the state. The Willow fire has placed more than 1,500 people under mandatory evacuation orders and another 2,100 residents under pre-evacuation notices, according to the governor’s office. The fire, reported June 28, has burned almost 4,000 acres and is 1% contained. “This Federal Fire Management Assistance Grant will help our state take all necessary actions to protect Coloradans and communities,” Polis said in a statement. “Protecting lives, property, and businesses is our top priority.” READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
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Polis Fires Two Clemency Board Members After Tina Peters Vote Becomes Public
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Just The News, Approved, State

Polis Fires Two Clemency Board Members After Tina Peters Vote Becomes Public

By Kevin Killough | Just the News Peters, a former clerk of Mesa County, was sentenced to nine years in prison after she was convicted in 2024 of tampering with voting machines in an attempt to show that the 2020 presidential election was gamed to favor Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis fired two members of the state's clemency board after they disclosed the board's recommendation to the governor against commuting the prison sentence of Tina Peters.  Peters, a former clerk of Mesa County, was sentenced to nine years in prison after she was convicted in 2024 of tampering with voting machines in an attempt to show that the 2020 presidential election was gamed to favor Democratic candidate Joe Biden.  Clemency board members Hanna...
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