Rocky Mountain Voice

Menu

Blog

Vandals Target Charlie Kirk Statue Outside Turning Point USA Headquarters
No Comments
New York Post, Approved, National

Vandals Target Charlie Kirk Statue Outside Turning Point USA Headquarters

By Zoe Hussain | New York Post A brand-new statue of slain conservative icon Charlie Kirk was vandalized in Arizona — just days after it was unveiled for the one-year anniversary of his death. The 8-foot statue of Kirk at Turning Point USA’s Phoenix headquarters, as well as a nearby poster memorial in front of the statue, was defaced with red paint overnight Sunday, AZ Family reported. Cops responded to calls about the defaced memorial just after 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, the Phoenix Police Department said in a statement to The Post. The statue was installed on Thursday to mark a year since the 31-year-old TPUSA co-founder was gunned down at an open-mic event at Utah Valley University. Photos from AZ Family showed the red paint smeared over the statu...
Read More
Frizell Makes the Case for Education Reform Without Shortchanging Taxpayers
No Comments
Colorado Politics, Approved, Commentary, State

Frizell Makes the Case for Education Reform Without Shortchanging Taxpayers

By Lisa Frizell | Commentary, Colorado Politics If we truly want to fix Colorado, we must respect taxpayers, demand accountability and prioritize classroom results.  Proposition NN fails the test.  The far left put forth this measure, presenting it as the only way to fund public schools. Colorado voters should look past the title and see what Prop NN really does.  The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights says money collected above the state’s spending cap goes back to the taxpayers. Proposition NN asks voters to increase the spending limitation and lets the state keep all the money above the spending cap, money that would otherwise go back to Colorado families.  The legislature’s nonpartisan staff estimated Proposition NN...
Read More
Englewood Drops Flock Cameras Amid Privacy and Surveillance Concerns
No Comments
Axios, Approved, Local

Englewood Drops Flock Cameras Amid Privacy and Surveillance Concerns

By Robert Sanchez | Axios Englewood could cover its 12 automatic license plate-readers (ALPRs) with garbage bags if Flock Safety doesn't promptly remove them after City Council canceled the company's contract Tuesday. State of play: Englewood has no replacement lined up for its stationary readers after council unanimously dropped Flock and deadlocked on a proposed contract with competitor Axon. The city pays Flock $64,500 annually for its ALPR system. What they're saying: "Whether we use Flock or Axon, it's no different," Councilmember Rita Russell said. "They both do the same thing." In the room: Council voted 6–0 to terminate Flock, which Englewood police began using in 2023. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT AXIOS
Read More
Amendment 81 Puts Colorado’s Cooperation With ICE Before Voters
No Comments
The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Amendment 81 Puts Colorado’s Cooperation With ICE Before Voters

By Marissa Ventrelli | The Denver Gazette A coalition of advocacy groups and several district attorneys rallied outside the Colorado Capitol on Thursday to oppose a ballot measure that, if approved by voters in November, would require state and local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Backed by Advance Colorado, Proposition 81 would require local law enforcement agencies to notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement when they charge a person who is in the country illegally with a violent crime or when the individual has previously been charged with a felony. This also applies when the person’s legal status cannot be determined. Kristi Burton Brown, executive vice president of Advance Colorado, told Colorado Politics that the gr...
Read More
Amendment 83 Seeks Constitutional Protection for Colorado Hunting and Fishing
No Comments
KJCT-TV ABC 8, Approved, State

Amendment 83 Seeks Constitutional Protection for Colorado Hunting and Fishing

By Brianna Chappie | KJCT The proposed amendment has surpassed the signature threshold, setting up a November vote over a potential enshrining of hunting and fishing rights for Coloradans. GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) - A hunting and fishing conservation group celebrated a big victory recently after gathering enough signatures to add a new amendment onto the upcoming Nov. 3 ballot. On Sept. 4, the ‘Right to Hunt and Fish Amendment’ surpassed the 124,238 signatures required to be added onto the ballot. The amendment was introduced by the organization, The International Order of T. Roosevelt (IOTR). “It’s an organization that’s been around since 1975,” said IOTR CEO Luke Hilgemann. “We exist to protect hunting, fishing and what we believe are the fundamental fre...
Read More
Colorado Medicaid rolls fell 30 percent as spending climbed by $2 billion
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado Medicaid rolls fell 30 percent as spending climbed by $2 billion

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado Medicaid covered about 510,000 fewer people in an average month in fiscal 2025 than it did two years earlier. Estimated spending still climbed. That is part of the puzzle a new legislative commission has been handed.  When the state unwound the pandemic-era rule that kept people continuously enrolled, average monthly enrollment fell roughly 30 percent between fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2025. Common sense says a program covering far fewer people should cost less. Colorado's cost more.  A September brief from the Common Sense Institute puts the increase at an estimated $2.09 billion, a 15 percent jump. Fewer members. Higher costs. Less room to move. What the state pays per person The clearest w...
Read More
Prop 123 pledged 10,000 units a year. Colorado is nowhere close.
No Comments
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Prop 123 pledged 10,000 units a year. Colorado is nowhere close.

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Where's that Prop 123 money going? Hint: not all of it to new housing! Per the first link below, Prop 123 was a new tax** passed by voters in 2022 which went into a dedicated fund to provide money for "affordable housing" efforts. Screenshots 1a and 1b are from the state's Prop 123 "About" page. They give an overview of the measure along with a list of legislative changes since its passage respectively.  If you want to see the bills, you obviously can't click on a picture, so use the link below to research more about legislative changes to Prop 123 (see also "Related" below).Whether you voted for Prop 123 and/or support the idea, it's worth the time to go and check where that new tax money has g...
Read More
From no-fault divorce to VAWA, the case that fatherlessness was by design
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

From no-fault divorce to VAWA, the case that fatherlessness was by design

By Carl Roberts | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice My guess is that most people, most parents, rarely think about parental rights. Why? Most likely because their parental rights have never been threatened. Their role in their child's life never questioned or judged. They haven't been through the drill of a custody battle or had CPS show up at their door. Nor have they had someone at their child's school secretly try to transition their son into a girl or daughter into a boy. Most parents are simply unaware that this is happening all around them, every day, until it hits them square between the eyes. Another layer to it is, not only do they not have the lived experience, but they can't imagine how the systems that were built to protect children often cause far more harm than...
Read More
The Decisiveness Weapon: Charlie and the Truth Factory 
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

The Decisiveness Weapon: Charlie and the Truth Factory 

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice As I sit quietly this morning, rather than a nursery rhyme, a children's tale keeps illuminating my imagination: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with three injuries weighing upon my soul. Yesterday marked one year since Charlie Kirk was assassinated. Today marks twenty-five years since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. And here at home, my wife, Sherrie, has spent more than 300 days bedridden. While being treated for glioblastoma, she was dropped on her head during hospital care, suffering injuries that left her unable to walk. One injury is political and cultural. One is national and collective. One is deeply personal. Each has brought pain. Each has produced loss. And each places the same question before the...
Read More
Colorado’s homelessness and housing funds recorded $153 million in phantom federal money, audit finds
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s homelessness and housing funds recorded $153 million in phantom federal money, audit finds

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado wanted more control over its share of federal pandemic aid before the money hit its federal spending deadlines. So in 2024, the state moved it. It pulled hundreds of millions in American Rescue Plan money back out of four state programs, three of them tied to housing and homelessness, and replaced it with state general funds, so it could spend the federal dollars elsewhere before the deadlines ran out. Then the Department of Local Affairs set those funds up in the state's accounting system as if they were still federal. Every time the department spent a state dollar out of the four programs, the system automatically booked a federal reimbursement that was never coming. By the end of the fiscal year the departm...
Read More