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Tag: Phil Weiser

Federal Judge Blocks Colorado Law Expanding State Oversight of ICE Facility
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Courthouse News Service, Approved, State

Federal Judge Blocks Colorado Law Expanding State Oversight of ICE Facility

By Amanda Pampuro | Courthouse News Service Months before reports of tuberculosis infecting a detainee at an immigration detention center in Aurora, state lawmakers sought to expand the public health department’s ability to inspect the facility. DENVER (CN) — A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction Thursday blocking a Colorado law that sought to expand the state public health agency’s ability to inspect an immigrant detention facility in Aurora. “HB-1276 applies only to civilian detention centers, of which there is one,” Chief U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico wrote in the opinion. “Though Colorado argues that the law only brings GEO into compliance with existing state regulations applied to other detention facilities, that law singles out this o...
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Colorado Cities Wrestle With Costs and Benefits of Data Center Expansion
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Axios Denver, Approved, State

Colorado Cities Wrestle With Costs and Benefits of Data Center Expansion

By Alayna Alvarez | Axios Denver Colorado communities are taking dramatically different approaches to the boom in data center development, with a patchwork of moratoriums, incentives and new restrictions. Why it matters: The local experimentation is filling a vacuum left by state lawmakers, who failed last legislative session to agree on how Colorado should regulate the resource-hungry facilities. State of play: The fragmentation sets up another potential fight at the Colorado State Capitol next year over how to capture the upside of data center development without saddling communities with their enormous electricity, water and infrastructure demands. Driving the news: Denver — which already has 50 data centers — has&...
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Three laws, one result: A federal suit says Colorado and Denver leave some visitors no way to carry
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Three laws, one result: A federal suit says Colorado and Denver leave some visitors no way to carry

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice He says he passed a background check stricter than Colorado's. He holds a carry permit that is good in more than 30 states. He owns a second home in Weld County. And when Greg Howeth applied for a Colorado permit this spring, a Weld County employee called to tell him no — because he does not have a Colorado ID. That denial, delivered by email on May 28, is now Exhibit 2 in a federal lawsuit against the City and County of Denver, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, and five other officials.  Howeth, a South Carolina man named Zackary Dougherty, and the National Rifle Association filed the case in U.S. District Court in Denver on Aug. 12. Their claim is not that any single Colorado law is unconstitutional. It ...
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One-party rule, one-way press access in Colorado
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

One-party rule, one-way press access in Colorado

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Complete Colorado Republicans in Colorado have, at best, a ”fraught” relationship with liberal local news media. Given this history, it’s probably not surprising that when Republicans refuse to talk to the progressive press, they enthusiastically spill ink over it. To wit, journalism professor Corey Hutchins, in a recent edition of his media newsletter, noted how Republican gubernatorial candidate Victor Marx denied some media outlets access on the night of the GOP primary, saying that his campaign chose not to rely on legacy media to tell its story. Think what you will about the maturity of Republicans or the news media, their squabbles hide something more important, especially given Colorado is run almost entirely by Democrats. Many Dem...
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Weiser’s Blueprint: More offices, in the name of streamlining
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Weiser’s Blueprint: More offices, in the name of streamlining

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Phil Weiser's plan for Colorado runs 109 pages. It promises, throughout the document, to make state government simpler, faster, and less tangled in its own rules. It also proposes a new set of offices, officers, and coordinating teams to carry it out. The Colorado Blueprint, the platform Weiser is running on for governor, tells voters he will cut red tape and streamline how the state operates.  Alongside those promises, he would appoint a Chief Innovation Officer, a Chief Housing Officer, a Chief Resilience Officer, a Director of Rural Affairs and Collaboration, and a new Office for Safe Communities to coordinate the agencies that already handle public safety.  Reading the document, the same theme shows up...
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A mass of contradictions: One writer’s read on Phil Weiser’s plan for Colorado
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

A mass of contradictions: One writer’s read on Phil Weiser’s plan for Colorado

By Ari Armstrong | Commentary, Complete Colorado “Democrats lay out plan to win supermajority in Colorado Legislature,” reads a recent headline from the left-leaning Colorado Newsline. So how might Governor Phil Weiser interact with the legislature, whether or not Democrats reach their goals for legislative seats? For that we can turn to his 109-page “blueprint” Unsurprisingly, Weiser wants to be all things to all people. He talks about freedom, prosperity, and a business-friendly environment out of one side of his mouth while promoting tax and spending hikes and tighter regulations out of the other. Housing affordability Unaffordable housing exacerbates various other problems, starting, of course, with homelessness. It makes child care less available and mor...
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A blueprint of contradictions: Weiser courts business while expanding union power
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

A blueprint of contradictions: Weiser courts business while expanding union power

By Ari Armstrong | Commentary, Complete Colorado “Democrats lay out plan to win supermajority in Colorado Legislature,” reads a recent headline from the left-leaning Colorado Newsline. So how might Governor Phil Weiser interact with the legislature, whether or not Democrats reach their goals for legislative seats? For that we can turn to his 109-page “blueprint.” Unsurprisingly, Weiser wants to be all things to all people. He talks about freedom, prosperity, and a business-friendly environment out of one side of his mouth while promoting tax and spending hikes and tighter regulations out of the other. Housing affordability Unaffordable housing exacerbates various other problems, starting, of course, with homelessness. It makes child care less available and more expensive, b...
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Victor Marx Selects Retired Marine George Markert For Lieutenant Governor
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Victor Marx Selects Retired Marine George Markert For Lieutenant Governor

By Ernest Luning | Colorado Politics Colorado Republican gubernatorial nominee Victor Marx named George Markert, a retired Marine colonel, as his running mate for lieutenant governor Friday morning, saying the former U.S. Senate candidate will bring “exceptional character, proven leadership and a lifetime of serving others” to the ticket. Marx is facing Democratic nominee Phil Weiser, the state’s attorney general, and independent candidate Greg Lopez, a former Republican congressman, in the race to succeed Democratic Gov. Jared Polis next year, who faces term limits. The announcement comes nine weeks before county clerks can start sending out mail ballots for the Nov. 3 election. Last week, Weiser announced thathis choice for the No. 2 position was Jefferso...
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Former GOP Congressman Greg Lopez Secures Spot on Colorado Governor Ballot as Independent
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Former GOP Congressman Greg Lopez Secures Spot on Colorado Governor Ballot as Independent

By: Ernest Luning | Colorado Politics Unaffiliated gubernatorial candidate Greg Lopez, a former Republican congressman from Elizabeth who left the GOP to run as an independent, has qualified for the ballot by submitting enough petition signatures, the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office said Tuesday. He’ll face Democratic nominee Phil Weiser, the state’s two-term attorney general, and Republican Victor Marx, a first-time candidate who runs a Christian ministry in Colorado Springs, as well as several candidates who belong to minor political parties. Lopez and his pick for lieutenant governor, Taralyn Romero, a Jefferson County property rights activist and health care worker, needed to turn in 1,000 valid signatures from registered voters in each of the state’s eight co...
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Colorado sues over Trump election rules tied to homeland security grants
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado sues over Trump election rules tied to homeland security grants

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado joined 24 other states and the District of Columbia on Thursday in suing the Trump administration over new rules that withhold a fifth of the state's counterterrorism grant money unless Colorado shows it meets five federal election requirements. One of the five requirements asks Colorado to plan a change state rules already require. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, where judges ruled against DHS in two similar grant disputes last year. One of those decisions is on appeal.  Colorado sued DHS, FEMA, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Robert J. Fenton, the senior official performing the duties of FEMA administrator. "We're suing again, and we'll win again, because the administrat...
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