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Southwest Colorado’s voice has gone unheard in Denver. Naomi Riess is running to change it.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Southwest Colorado’s voice has gone unheard in Denver. Naomi Riess is running to change it.

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice The men's room door was locked. The man inside wasn't responding. Naomi Riess's daughter-in-law — who works for the sheriff at the jail — had already recognized him when he walked in. She'd been watching. She called 911 and tried to find the key. Nobody knew where it was. When police arrived, they broke the door down and found him ODing on the floor inside a fentanyl cloud. The first two officers through both had to be Narcanned — one passed out immediately. Her daughter-in-law was third in line. She didn't need Narcan but went to the hospital for a full body detox of her clothing and her body. She had no voice for four days. The man was taken to the hospital and released. It was the weekend and police couldn't reach a...
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JeffCo Parents Demand Answers After Hidden School Safety Audit Surfaces
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Colorado Public Radio, Approved, Local

JeffCo Parents Demand Answers After Hidden School Safety Audit Surfaces

By Molly Cruse | CPR News Two weeks ago, Lindsay Datko filed a public records request for a school safety audit from JeffCo Public Schools. Datko — a parent of three children in the district and executive director of the parent advocacy group Jeffco Kids First — said she first learned about the audit through school committee meeting minutes. But when she requested the records through Colorado’s open records law, she said the district initially told her only hard copies existed and that they had been destroyed. Now, Jeffco Public Schools parents and advocates are demanding answers.  The unreleased audit was conducted by a student safety company called Gaggle. The report uncovered more than 150 “imminent threats” just weeks before the September 2025...
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Colorado Lawmakers Close 2026 Session With Greater Government Control And Higher Fiscal Risk
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Close 2026 Session With Greater Government Control And Higher Fiscal Risk

By Jake Fogleman | Complete Colorado The Colorado legislature officially adjourned May 13, after weighing more than 600 bills over the course of 120 days. Lawmakers entered the 2026 legislative session facing a set of familiar problems: another billion-dollar budget deficit, rising voter frustration over affordability, and growing concerns about Colorado’s economic competitiveness and business climate. Yet despite those warning signs, the Democrat-dominated legislature largely doubled down on the same governing philosophy that has increasingly defined the Capitol in recent years—more fees, more special interest tax benefits at the expense of other taxpayers, and more attempts to carve revenue streams out from under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). To be sure, not...
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The parent-child bond is not the government’s to break
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

The parent-child bond is not the government’s to break

By Colleen Enos | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Each morning you kiss your 12-year-old daughter goodbye while sending her off to school. You trust that her teachers care about her and are nurturing her mind, not hiding things from you. Weeks later, you discover your once-bright child is now anxious, isolated, and medically altered, because her trusted teachers have secretly counselled her to take life-altering hormones while keeping you in the dark—the mother who loved her, sacrificed for her and would lay down your life to protect her.  This scenario isn’t rare; it’s unfolding in schools nationwide. When the state severs the sacred parent-child bond, it doesn’t just break families; it assaults the natural rights that shield every American’s liberty and the rule of ...
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Colorado Supreme Court Orders Hospital To Resume Transgender Treatments For Minors
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Supreme Court Orders Hospital To Resume Transgender Treatments For Minors

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics The Colorado Supreme Court, by a 5-2 vote, ordered Children’s Hospital Colorado on Monday to resume providing certain medical services to a group of transgender plaintiffs, which it had ceased in the face of funding threats from the federal government last year. The unusual appeal before the Supreme Court stemmed from a trial judge’s rejection of a preliminary injunction to four trans plaintiffs who are minors seeking treatment from Children’s Colorado. The plaintiffs filed a class action alleging that the cessation of services based on their status violates the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act. While multiple considerations inform whether a judge should grant an injunction, the Supreme Court’s majority concluded the plaintiffs wer...
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Colorado Seniors Face Growing Threat From Sophisticated Scams
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SmartAsset, Approved, National

Colorado Seniors Face Growing Threat From Sophisticated Scams

By Toby Nelson | SmartAsset Millions of older Americans are targeted by financial scams each year. One analysis published by the U.S. Department of the Treasury found $27 billion in suspected elder financial exploitation in just a 12-month period. As digital banking, payments and communication become more common, scammers have more ways to reach victims and impersonate trusted institutions. Phishing scams, including business imposter and government imposter fraud, are among the most common methods used to target older Americans.  SmartAsset analyzed fraud reports filed with the Federal Trade Commission by state and age group to determine which areas show the highest rate of reported scams involving residents age 60 and older. The analysis also identified the mo...
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Appeals Court Sides With Boulder On Homeless Camping Restrictions
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Hoodline, Approved, Local

Appeals Court Sides With Boulder On Homeless Camping Restrictions

By Leah Fraser | Hoodline Boulder can keep ticketing and jailing people for sleeping outside, at least for now. A Colorado Court of Appeals panel on Thursday upheld the city's ban on camping and sleeping on public property, turning aside a constitutional challenge that said the rules amount to cruel and unusual punishment under state law. The three-judge panel ruled that the ordinances target conduct - pitching a tent, sleeping with a blanket or otherwise sheltering outdoors - not the status of being unhoused, leaving the city's tent and blanket bans in place while advocates decide whether to take the fight to a higher court. The opinion, issued May 14, 2026, was written by Judge W. Eric Kuhn, who concluded that, "no matter how sympathetic their plight, these circumstances al...
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Rural Colorado Communities Back Iran Strategy Even As Gas Prices Climb
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Pikes Peak Courier, Approved, State

Rural Colorado Communities Back Iran Strategy Even As Gas Prices Climb

By Reuters | Pike's Peak Courier WIGGINS, Colo. • Perched behind the cash register at Stubs liquor store, Amy Van Duyn gazed out the window at a red-and-green gasoline price sign, which she said seemed to tick up daily. The price was $4.34 per gallon — about 50% higher than it was in these parts when President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year. “I used to fill my tank for $36,” said Van Duyn, 42. “Now $36 gets me half a tank.” Her co-worker Tonyah Bruyette said when it’s time to buy groceries, she’s left wondering where all her money went: “We’re putting it in the tank rather than on our table.” Like most people in and around Wiggins, a farming town of 1,400 people in northeast Colorado, Van Duyn and Bruyette remain ardent supporters of t...
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Three minutes at the microphone: What Colorado’s 2026 session really looked like
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Three minutes at the microphone: What Colorado’s 2026 session really looked like

By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board From housing fights and election battles to late-night hearings and grassroots backlash, the 2026 session left many Coloradans questioning where decisions are really made. Arrive early. Sign up fast. Wait six hours. Get three minutes at the microphone. By April, Colorado citizens had learned the Capitol routine. Parents waited to testify on parental rights and gender policy bills. Survivors of child trafficking described years of trauma while lawmakers debated sentencing standards. Gun owners warned against expanding red flag authority to what Senate Bill 26-004 would ultimately define as “institutional petitioners”—a category now including schools, healthcare facilities and behavioral-health entities authorized to seek firearm se...
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“A shift in history”: Worshippers at Rededicate 250 say America’s renewal begins with God
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The Christian Post, Approved, National

“A shift in history”: Worshippers at Rededicate 250 say America’s renewal begins with God

By Ryan Foley | The Christian Post WASHINGTON — Thousands gathered on the National Mall Sunday for a historic day of national prayer and worship ahead of the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, with attendees expressing hope for a spiritual renewal and a cultural shift in American society.  Christians from around the world braved occasional light rain, hot weather and long security lines to participate in Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving. Several prominent religious leaders and Trump administration officials addressed the crowd, which extended beyond rows of chairs to blankets spread across the grass with the U.S. Capitol in the background. Rededicate 250 is one of several events planned as p...
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