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Colorado immediately assessed Trump’s election order. USPS defended its proposal. A court blocked key parts.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado immediately assessed Trump’s election order. USPS defended its proposal. A court blocked key parts.

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado election officials said they diverted staff to evaluate President Trump's executive order while 2026 preparations were already underway. USPS said the proposal formalizes election-mail practices it has recommended for years. The dispute has now moved to the appeals courts. Colorado election officials told a federal court they began evaluating changes to the state's election systems almost immediately after President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to overhaul parts of federal election administration.  In sworn filings, they said the order required them to divert staff time to analyze how new federal citizenship verification and ballot-mail procedures would interact with the state's syste...
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How a youth trap shooting story became a debate over gun policy
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

How a youth trap shooting story became a debate over gun policy

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project The Colorado Sun article linked first below is nominally about high school kids, trap shooting, and teaching young ones how to be responsible around guns. The subhead illustrates pretty well: “Schools in mostly rural counties are building high school shooting teams that teach kids discipline, focus, camaraderie — and most important, how to handle a gun safely.” Perfectly fine topic. I like the topic, and I like that the Sun is looking outside the metro area to bring interesting stories back to that region, something that they do regularly if I’m going to be fair to them. If the Sun reporter stayed with the topic of the subhead, if she had focused on what is an unusual sport and how it’s helping youngsters...
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Polis Declares Disaster Emergency As Ferris Fire Tops 57,000 Acres
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Polis Declares Disaster Emergency As Ferris Fire Tops 57,000 Acres

By: Christa Swanson | CBS Colorado The growing Ferris Fire in southwest Colorado has consumed over 50,000 acres, prompting Colorado Gov. Jared Polis to declare a disaster emergency. On Wednesday, the governor's office announced the verbal declaration, which activates the State Emergency Operations Plan and increases the resources available for containment efforts. Ferris Fire moves up steep terrain in the Glade Creek area. Ferris Fire Incident Command READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT CBS COLORADO
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Trump Team Launches Major Investigation Into Foreign Labor Visa Fraud
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The Federalist, Approved, National

Trump Team Launches Major Investigation Into Foreign Labor Visa Fraud

By: Hannah Bates | The Federalist The Trump administration started a major investigation into H-1B and PERM foreign labor visas, the Labor Department’s Inspector General Anthony P. D’Esposito announced Wednesday. The investigation aims to take the “most aggressive action against foreign labor fraud by an Inspector General this administration” to further President Trump’s goal to end foreign violence on American soil and return jobs to the American people, D’Esposito told Fox Business. D’Esposito, who is leading the investigation, stated that the department has already begun “issu[ing] dozens of subpoenas.” He also noted that there are “whistleblowers talking about some of the biggest companies” who have abused H1-B and PERM (Permanent Labor Certification) vis...
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Federal Appeals Court Rejects Anonymous Lawsuit Against Colorado Judicial Branch
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Federal Appeals Court Rejects Anonymous Lawsuit Against Colorado Judicial Branch

By: Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics The Denver-based federal appeals court concluded last month that a former attorney cannot mask her identity while suing the Colorado Judicial Department for alleged improprieties in her disability and disbarment proceedings. “Jane Roe,” representing herself, sued the Judicial Department and attorney regulators in 2024. She accused the defendants of discrimination, defamation, and violations of her constitutional rights in the proceedings that culminated in her disbarment. Because Roe did not have an attorney, Colorado’s federal trial court routed her complaint through its screening process for self-represented litigants. U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard T. Gurley advised Roe that there need to be “exceptional” circumstances for plain...
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Maine Democrat Graham Platner Ends Senate Bid After Mounting Controversies
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The Daily Signal, Approved, National

Maine Democrat Graham Platner Ends Senate Bid After Mounting Controversies

By Nolan D. McCaskill, Richard Cowan and Daniel Trotta | The Daily Signal Democrat Senate candidate Graham Platner of Maine on Wednesday promised to formally withdraw from the race, after a string of controversies including an accusation of sexual assault plunged one of the most competitive races in the 2026 midterm elections into turmoil. The suspension by the former U.S. Marine, announced in a video posted on social media, is likely to complicate Democrats’ efforts to win control of the Senate in the Nov. 3 elections. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority. In the recorded video, Platner repeated his denial of the sexual assault accusation and said the effort to remove him from the ballot was fueled by his effectivene...
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Cherry Creek Schools Spent $114K On Outside Counsel During Superintendent Scandal
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Cherry Creek Schools Spent $114K On Outside Counsel During Superintendent Scandal

By: Nicole C. Brambila | The Denver Gazette The Cherry Creek School District paid $114,000 to hire outside counsel to provide the Board of Education with legal advice as it navigated the allegations that were swirling around the former superintendent. Fisher Phillips invoices obtained through a Colorado Open Records Act request show the district paid $114,191.50 from March through June. Roughly a third of the cost — or $40,000 — was paid to Steve Welchert. Welchert is a Democratic political consultant who specializes in strategic planning, political lobbying and crisis management. Following the Jan. 27 executive session to discuss former Superintendent Chris Smith’s mid-year evaluation in which he abruptly resigned, the board hired Jane Waterman-Joyc...
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What Would Colorado’s Declaration Of Independence Say Today?
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

What Would Colorado’s Declaration Of Independence Say Today?

By: Jon Caldara | Commentary, Complete Colorado Happy 250th Birthday, America! You look fabulous. As all the cool countries are saying, “250 is the new 230.” The Declaration of Independence wasn’t merely an announcement of war against a tyrant. It was the most revolutionary political document ever written. The Declaration was a landmark in human development, perhaps the landmark of all human history. For the first time government was no longer affirmed sovereign. The individual was. That simple idea changed the world. You rule yourself. Your life belongs to you. Your liberty belongs to you. Your happiness is yours to pursue as you define it. Your property belongs to you. Government exists not to rule over you, but to secure your&n...
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Colorado’s dirty voter roll: Following the ballot
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s dirty voter roll: Following the ballot

By Mike O’Donnell | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice  Colorado relies on the U.S. Postal Service to deliver millions of ballots, but the mail carrier isn't always the last person to handle them. In Part 4, Mike O'Donnell examines Colorado's chain of custody—from group homes and shelters to commercial mail locations, drop boxes and ballot harvesting. Ballot Chain of Custody Because Colorado is a vote-by-mail state, the U.S. Postal Service, as a (mostly) trusted agency of the federal government, is the primary delivery mechanism used to ensure that ballots are delivered to all active status registrants.  Colorado ballots are, for the most part, delivered by U.S. Postal Service workers directly into the home mailboxes or secure mail boxes at local post offi...
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Federal lawsuit says Denver school board used race to draw voting districts
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Federal lawsuit says Denver school board used race to draw voting districts

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice A conservative election-law firm filed a federal lawsuit against the Denver Public Schools Board of Education on July 2, arguing the board deliberately drew its school district voting map along racial lines. The board's own words, the suit says, prove it. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Colorado by the Public Interest Legal Foundation, a Virginia-based nonprofit, on behalf of Denver residents Susan Moore and Valdamar Archuleta. It targets Map C, the redistricting plan DPS adopted in April 2024 following the 2020 census. The complaint does not just allege that race played a role. It argues race was the point. What DPS did After each federal census, Colorado law requires school districts to redraw thei...
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