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Colorado lawmakers put pressure on wildlife officials to help ranchers protect livestock from wolves
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, Local, Western Slope

Colorado lawmakers put pressure on wildlife officials to help ranchers protect livestock from wolves

By Marianne Goodland | SOURCE: COLORADO POLITICS After losing more than a dozen livestock and four cattle dogs to wolf attacks, Jackson County rancher Don Gittleson is getting help from lawmakers, who asked wildlife officials to immediately reconsider their decision denying a request to remove the depredating animals from the area.  Gittleson said repeated pleas to Colorado Parks and Wildlife to deal with these wolves have been ignored, other telling him to employ "non-lethal" methods to scare the wolves off. These methods have not worked, Gittleson said. Now, state lawmakers are stepping into the fray. State Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Frisco, and House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, penned a letter to CPW Director Jeff Davis on Monday, chastising the agency for failing to ...
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Aurora to buy property for homeless navigation campus
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, Denver Metro, Local

Aurora to buy property for homeless navigation campus

By Kyla Pearce | SOURCE: DENVER GAZETTE The Aurora City Council voted Monday to move forward with a purchase agreement for a 13-acre hotel site for its future regional navigation campus.  The campus is intended to be a "one stop shop" for homeless services, helping direct people to shelters and resources, similar to the Colorado Springs Rescue Mission. The property is at 15550 E. 40th Ave. in Aurora, which is currently a Crowne Plaza hotel and convention center.  After some debate at Monday's meeting, the council voted to move forward with purchasing the land despite "no" votes from Councilmembers Curtis Gardner, Alison Coombs and Ruben Medina.  READ FULL ARTICLE ON DENVERGAZETTE.COM
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Burton Brown to seek State Board of Education seat
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Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Burton Brown to seek State Board of Education seat

Kristi Burton Brown, formerly the chairwoman of the Colorado Republican Party, has announced her candidacy for the Colorado State Board of Education seat in Congressional District 4. "Our education system needs more opportunity, better accountability, and greater empowerment for parents," Burton Brown said. "The Board of Education needs members who are committed to expanding school choice, ready to insist on high academic standards, and willing to prioritize parents' voices." Burton Brown is the Executive Vice President at Advance Colorado and, as a practicing attorney, is admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court where she has submitted briefs on the right to life, religious freedom, and women's right to play sports without men taking their place. She is a former substitute teacher in rura...
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Armstrong: Colorado journalists cheerlead government interference
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Approved, completecolorado.com, State

Armstrong: Colorado journalists cheerlead government interference

 By Ari Armstrong | SOURCE: COMPLETE COLORADO PAGE TWO I worry about those who disparage “the media” without context or specific complaints. Badmouthing journalists can be a way to dodge reporting you don’t like. But there is such a thing as media bias, or at least biases within media. That’s not surprising. Journalists are people, and most people harbor some bias or other. But news publications, I think, have a responsibility to try to counteract rather than feed their reporters’ biases. Here I address a couple of recent cases of journalists cheerleading government interference. We might call this a “pro-state bias.” This bias is pronounced with three of Colorado’s leading news outlets, Colorado Public Radio, the Denver Post, and the Colorado Sun. Here I’ll look at examples from the...
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Trump gets 14th Amendment challenge win in Massachusetts
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Approved, gazette.com, National

Trump gets 14th Amendment challenge win in Massachusetts

By Rachel Schilke, Washington Examiner | SOURCE: THE GAZETTE A Massachusetts ballot panel has rejected a challenge to remove former President Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot over his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The Massachusetts State Ballot Law Commission dismissed the case on procedural grounds, stating that the panel did not have the jurisdiction to weigh in on the matter. This is a significant victory for Trump, who is facing several attempts from multiple states to remove him from the ballot under a section of the 14th Amendment disqualifying those who "engaged in insurrection" from holding public office. Commissioners met in Boston briefly last week to hear procedural questions and arguments. The commission is an indep...
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Evaluating Gov. Polis’s Tax Reform Agenda: Tax Expenditures vs. Broad-Based Tax Relief
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Approved, i2i.org, State

Evaluating Gov. Polis’s Tax Reform Agenda: Tax Expenditures vs. Broad-Based Tax Relief

By Fiscal Policy Center | SOURCE: INDEPENDENCE INSTITUTE Colorado’s governor, Jared Polis, champions increasing state revenue by eliminating provisions of the tax code that benefit special interests—what state budgeters call “tax expenditures.” Rather than use the new money to grow government or redistribute surplus revenue through tax handouts and Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) refunds, however, the governor argues the state should use the revenue to provide tax relief for all Colorado taxpayers through income tax rate reductions. As far back as 2018, Polis campaigned on this tax reform approach. This report evaluates Governor Polis’s progress in advancing these tax reform goals. By calculating the revenue impact of each tax expenditure modification, it determines whether legislatio...
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COLUMN: As school performance slumps, parents opt out | Jimmy Sengenberger
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Approved, gazette.com, State

COLUMN: As school performance slumps, parents opt out | Jimmy Sengenberger

By Jimmy Sengenberger | SOURCE: THE GAZETTE In the pandemic’s aftermath, Colorado’s public PreK-12 school system faces deteriorating enrollment. Contrary to the narrative spun by politicians, educrats and teachers union bosses — that the slump is simply due to demographic shifts, unaffordable housing and COVID-19 — it’s far from the full story. Last week, the Denver Gazette reported 1,800 fewer students were enrolled at the October count, a 0.20% year-over-year dip. While Colorado’s population burgeoned, education department data reveals public-school enrollment plunged by 30,024 students (3.3%) in the 2020-2021 school year — the state’s first drop since 1988. The subsequent rebound for 2021-2022 was modest, regaining just 3,318 students (0.38%). The statewide exodus continued,...
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EDITORIAL: The urgent need for more school choice in Colorado
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Approved, gazette.com, State

EDITORIAL: The urgent need for more school choice in Colorado

By The Gazette Editorial Board | SOURCE: THE GAZETTE The only downside to school choice in our state? There isn’t enough of it. It’s the right prescription for what ails Colorado’s public schools — an inoculation against the plague of malaise and abysmal performance at too many schools in too many communities. It’s why we salute the 14th annual National School Choice Week, which kicked off Sunday and runs through Saturday in Colorado and across the rest of the country. It’s a week in which school choice’s diverse advocates and supporters not only raise the movement’s profile for state policymakers but also reach out to parents to help them take advantage of the education options available to them. The observance, organized by the National School Choice Awareness Foundation, wil...
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GUEST COLUMN: The child care workforce needs support
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Approved, gazette.com, National

GUEST COLUMN: The child care workforce needs support

By Gregory Martin | SOURCE: THE GAZETTE As we start this new year, I am taking the time to reflect on the selfless and dedicated people I have had the privilege of working alongside as a United States Air Force General. From the front lines to the halls of the Pentagon, I have witnessed the impact of thousands of individuals who serve with unwavering commitment. This group of individuals includes the service members who have volunteered to serve our nation, but it also includes the people who work tirelessly to ensure that the parents in the service are able to accomplish their missions with the knowledge that their children are in the best of hands — child care providers and early educators. In the military, we understand the importance of having a quality, qualified child care work...
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Immigrants may cause spike in annual metro Denver homeless count
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, Downtown Denver, Local

Immigrants may cause spike in annual metro Denver homeless count

By Kyla Pearce and Noah Festenstein | SOURCE: COLORADO POLITICS An annual count of Denver's homeless population will include immigrants who crossed America's southern border and ended up in the city's shelters, potentially increasing the number by a significant amount. The annual point-in-time count, which offers a snapshot of the country's homeless population on a single night, is taking place across Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties from sundown to sundown between Jan. 22 and Jan. 23. Last year's count put the number of homeless people at more than 9,000, but a different tracking system said the figure is closer to 30,000 throughout the year, leading many to believe that the annual point of time count is limited.  Kyla Moe, depu...
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