Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: RMV Freedom Fest

They almost stayed home: What a Douglas County couple took away from Freedom Fest
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

They almost stayed home: What a Douglas County couple took away from Freedom Fest

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice By Saturday morning, Russ and Deb Minary were home, a refrigerator due to be delivered and an ordinary weekend resuming around them. They couldn't stop replaying the day before. They almost hadn't gone. Their Friday had cleared at the last minute, and they drove over on short notice for day one of Rocky Mountain Voice's two-day Freedom Festival, marking America's 250th birthday and Colorado's 150th. "It's frightening when you see how easily our elections are being changed and manipulated," Deb said. "But it's also encouraging to know there are people trying so hard to fight for our freedom." The day had split in two for them—what frightened them, and what gave them hope. https://twitter.com/TheRMVoice/status/2070592878896717...
Lara Logan: Why ordinary people still give her hope
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Lara Logan: Why ordinary people still give her hope

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice A few weeks after walking out of a Colorado prison, Tina Peters will take the stage at RMV Freedom Fest. Lara Logan will follow her to the microphone. After decades covering wars, terrorism, government corruption and some of the biggest stories in the world, Logan still talks most about people like Peters. A county clerk. A whistleblower. A parent standing before a school board. An ordinary person who decides staying quiet is no longer an option. "People like Tina Peters ... she was just a mom," Logan said. Logan is no stranger to the state. Over the past several years, Colorado has kept showing up in her reporting through Tina Peters' case and the election-integrity disputes that followed. For Logan, Peters' story fit a patte...
Lee Habeeb: “Storytelling is urgent work”
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Lee Habeeb: “Storytelling is urgent work”

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Lee Habeeb is coming to Castle Rock this month, and he's not telling anyone what he's going to say. "A good storyteller always likes surprising the audience," he told RMV. He did offer one detail. The crowd at RMV's Freedom Fest will hear a song they all know and love. They just won't know the story behind the man who wrote it. Not until Habeeb tells them. Habeeb speaks on the main stage Saturday, June 27 at RMV Freedom Fest at the Douglas County Fairgrounds in Castle Rock. What his grandfather taught him Some lessons get taught at the dinner table. Habeeb's grandfather taught his in a courtroom gallery, watching strangers become citizens. "My grandfather made me go to these immigration ceremonies to see first-ha...
From dope dealer to hope dealer: Detroit pastor Lorenzo Sewell brings message of redemption to Colorado
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

From dope dealer to hope dealer: Detroit pastor Lorenzo Sewell brings message of redemption to Colorado

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice He walked into church on April 18, 1999, with a bruised brow, money in his pocket, and murder on his mind. By the time he walked out, Lorenzo Sewell had given his life to Christ. That same day he went to his drug boss and quit. That day, and that decision, is the foundation of everything Sewell has built since.  The senior pastor of 180 Church in Detroit will bring his story of redemption and his message of civic faith to the RMV Freedom Fest, where he will speak on the main stage and give the invocation at the Mountain Majesty Gala on Saturday, June 27. A student of the street Sewell grew up on Detroit's east side in a home marked by abuse and instability. His father is in prison for murder. At age eleven, ...
Colorado calls its elections a model. Mark Cook says voters have lost oversight of them
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado calls its elections a model. Mark Cook says voters have lost oversight of them

By RMV Staff | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado's top election officials call the state's voting system a national model. Secretary of State Jena Griswold has described it as the "gold standard," pointing to first-in-the-nation risk-limiting audits, bipartisan checks and ballot tracking. Mark Cook argues that the people the system is supposed to answer to — voters, and the county clerks closest to them — have lost meaningful oversight of how it runs. Cook made that case during a recent appearance on Unleashed with Heidi Ganahl, where the conversation ranged from election transparency and county clerks to Tina Peters and Gov. Jared Polis. Cook's claim is not that one party rigged a result. It is structural: that administration has drifted upward over time, from county clerks to state...