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Trump Foreign Aid Cuts Put Years of USAID Waste and Fraud Under New Scrutiny
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Just The News, Approved, National

Trump Foreign Aid Cuts Put Years of USAID Waste and Fraud Under New Scrutiny

By John Solomon | Just the News House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer says Democrats have a pecuniary interest in keeping foreign aid going because nonprofit recipients of federal largesse are big Democrat donors. A half-billion-dollar fraud and bribery scheme conducted by a USAID contract officer and three conspirators that went undetected for a decade. American-bought equipment stolen by a terror group. Millions of dollars in food that spoiled in warehouses. These are but a few of the wasteful — if not corrupt ways -- millions of USAID dollars have been lost. While President Donald Trump has sharply cut foreign aid from the auspices of USAID and shifted what remains to the State Department, the massive abuse of America’s generosity to foreign countries ove...
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Former Durango Teacher Gets 40 Years For Sex Crimes Against 37 Teenage Boys
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CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Former Durango Teacher Gets 40 Years For Sex Crimes Against 37 Teenage Boys

By Logan Smith | CBS Colorado A former Durango middle school teacher who obtained sexual images from more than three dozen teenage boys by pretending to be a 16-year-old girl on social media was sentenced last week to four decades in prison.  Benjamin Smith was sentenced in a Denver federal courtroom Tuesday. The judge ordered lifetime supervision, too, once Smith is released from prison.  Smith, 30, posed as "Kristin" on Snapchat under the username "MTNCHICK69," according to evidence presented by federal prosecutors. Behind that identity, Smith reached out to boys in the Durango area as young as 12. He started conversations, sent out photos of a naked girl, then asked the boys to send back photos of themselves in return, prosecutors stated. Smith ...
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Aurora Council Members Split Over Statewide Fentanyl Felony Proposal
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DENVER7, Approved, Local

Aurora Council Members Split Over Statewide Fentanyl Felony Proposal

By Adria Iraheta | Denver7 Initiative 85 would make possession of any amount of fentanyl a felony in Colorado, but Aurora city leaders say increased incarceration isn't the answer. AURORA, Colo. — Aurora's Government Relations Committee approved a resolution this week opposing Colorado's Initiative 85, a statewide ballot initiative which would make possession of any amount of fentanyl — even under one gram — a felony offense. Under current Colorado law, a felony possession charge only applies to amounts over one gram. The resolution opposing the measure now heads to a full vote at the next Aurora City Council meeting. Initiative 85 would also require court-ordered treatment for users and expand habitual criminal classifications for drug possession charg...
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Colorado Voters To Decide Whether To Cap State Income Tax At 4.4%
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Voters To Decide Whether To Cap State Income Tax At 4.4%

By Thelma Grimes | Colorado Politics Election officials on Thursday confirmed that the proposal to cap the state’s income tax at the current rate submitted signatures and voters will consequently decide its fate this November. The fight over tax rates is part of the tug and pull in Colorado between opposing political forces feuding over state revenue. One side of that fight argues that Colorado isn’t generating enough revenue to spend on state priorities, such as education. The competing side counters that the state already collects enough — but policymakers’ spending priorities are misplaced. The Secretary of State’s Office on Thursday cleared Initiative No. 232 after Advance Colorado, the group behind it, submitted more than 184,000 signatures to get it on the b...
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Polis Asks Trump for Disaster Declaration After Devastating Colorado Fires and Floods
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DENVER7, Local, State

Polis Asks Trump for Disaster Declaration After Devastating Colorado Fires and Floods

By Robert Garrison | Denver7 White House says President Trump will evaluate Colorado's request with 'with great care and consideration'. DENVER — Gov. Jared Polis is asking President Donald Trump to approve a major disaster declaration after two of Colorado's most destructive wildfires burned hundreds of thousands of acres, destroyed hundreds of homes and triggered deadly flooding. Polis formally requested a major disaster declaration from President Donald Trump and FEMA on Sunday to support recovery from the Aspen Acres and Gold Mountain Fires, according to a news release from the governor’s office. The request seeks federal assistance for Pueblo, Custer and Ouray counties after the two fires burned more than 140,000 acres, destroyed 324 h...
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Davidson: Capitalism trusts you to choose. Socialism does not.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

Davidson: Capitalism trusts you to choose. Socialism does not.

By Jay Davidson | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Only one economic system accounts for human nature. Economics is the study of human nature. It seeks to explain how individuals interact in the exchange of a medium of value: money, barter, services, etc. Psychology, social science, even philosophy also study human nature. Whereas these studies can affect us at different times, the economy constantly affects us. An economy is a massive interchange of one product for another. It is more complex than weather prediction. Yet one economic system excels at recognizing human nature to its fullest. And that system relies on the one thing the left tells us is wrong: self-interest. Human nature requires self-interest in order to perpetuate, survive, and thrive. If pursued by a...
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The Discretion Weapon: Hey Diddle Diddle (When the Church Goes Helter-Skelter)
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Devotional, Top Stories

The Discretion Weapon: Hey Diddle Diddle (When the Church Goes Helter-Skelter)

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Hey diddle diddle, The cat and the fiddle, The cow jumped over the moon; The little dog laughedTo see such sport, And the dish ran away with the spoon. As children, we probably never stopped to consider just how helter-skelter that little nursery rhyme really is. The cat is playing a fiddle. The cow is flying over the moon. The dog is laughing, and apparently the dish and spoon have decided they have had enough of the kitchen and are running away together. You see… everything is moving, but nothing is functioning as it should. Reflecting on it, Hey Diddle Diddle might mirror our world today—and, sadly, it can also represent the condition of the Christian individual, marriage, family, church, business, and government. I...
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A change order, not an amendment: How Denver moved $18 million past City Council
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

A change order, not an amendment: How Denver moved $18 million past City Council

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice A contractor digging up 16th Street hit a brick sewer the city hadn't mapped. The cost of Denver's signature downtown project jumped by $18 million, the finish line slid back nearly a year, and City Council found out after the deal was done. That sequence sits at the heart of a new audit from Denver Auditor Timothy O'Brien, released Aug. 20. The report walks through how the 16th Street Improvement Project grew from a $149 million council approval in 2021 to a final cost of about $175.6 million, and how the single biggest change along the way never came to a council vote. How $18 million skipped the council The Department of Transportation & Infrastructure (DOTI) hired PCL Construction Services to rebuild the roa...
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Walmart Targets Lower Prices After Receiving Nearly $3 Billion in Tariff Refunds
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Fox Business, Approved, National

Walmart Targets Lower Prices After Receiving Nearly $3 Billion in Tariff Refunds

By Bradford Betz | FOX Business Walmart plans part of nearly $3 billion in tariff refunds to support its pricing strategy as the retailer posted higher sales and raised its annual outlook. Walmart has received nearly $3 billion in tariff refunds and says it will use some of the benefit to help keep prices low for shoppers, while the windfall also gave quarterly profit growth a significant boost. The company said it "prioritized investment in price" after receiving refunds tied to tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. The refunds came as Walmart continued leaning into its value proposition. The retailer pointed to more than 11,000 price rollbacks across its U.S. stores during the quarter. "We’re i...
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New Federal Rule Ends Medicaid Funding for Some Youth Gender Treatments in Colorado
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

New Federal Rule Ends Medicaid Funding for Some Youth Gender Treatments in Colorado

By John Ingold | The Colorado Sun The new rule blocks federal dollars from being spent on the care. The change will affect hundreds of transgender youth in Colorado. Colorado will suspend Medicaid coverage for hormone therapy and other gender-affirming care for transgender youth due to a new federal rule, the state agency that oversees the program said. The rule, finalized earlier this month, blocks federal funds from being used to pay for the care for youth. Specifically, the rule applies to coverage for people under 18 who are covered by Medicaid and people under 19 who are covered by a companion program called CHIP, which in Colorado is known as CHP+. The rule affects coverage for hormone therapy and puberty blockers, as well as other procedures. It do...
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