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Colorado’s corporate exodus: Nearly 12,000 jobs gone — and the tracker Polis hopes you’ll ignore
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s corporate exodus: Nearly 12,000 jobs gone — and the tracker Polis hopes you’ll ignore

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project   I found something interesting in Jon Caldara's recent op ed that I thought worth sharing. A quote (with link left intact--though I link to the opportunity tracker separately at bottom so you can share that link if you've a mind to) shows what I mean: "So, what's the pattern here? It's not just 'companies move sometimes.' We're building a list. A tracker. A scoreboard. The Colorado Chamber literally maintains a 'Lost Opportunities' compilation of companies leaving, downsizing, or choosing to expand somewhere else. Nearly 12,000 jobs have moved away. When you need a tracker for corporate departures, you're no longer 'a state with some challenges.' You're a gate agent announcing final boarding for Flight 970 to Anywhere Else." Ye...
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Does affordable housing mean subsidized housing?
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Colorado Accountability Project, Commentary, State

Does affordable housing mean subsidized housing?

By Cory Gaines | Colorado Accountability Project The more I read into what the Democrats running this state think affordable housing ought to mean, and how it ought to get done, the more I’m convinced that what they’d like to do is to equate affordable with (in one way or another) publicly-funded housing. The Sun article linked below offers pretty good evidence. It details a couple of proposals by Democrats. Quoting: “Solutions to Colorado’s lack of affordable housing for teachers and other key staff are slowly taking shape, with one new state program designed to offer an estimated 200 low-interest mortgages to rural educators and district staff. Another potential program, part of legislation that Democrat state Sen. Jeff Bridges plans to introduce this week, would all...
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PUC sunset bill would allow backroom commissioner talks and expand state override of local land use decisions
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

PUC sunset bill would allow backroom commissioner talks and expand state override of local land use decisions

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project HB26-1326 PUC Sunset Bill There is finally firm policy to share about the Sunset Bill for the Public Utilities Commission. HB26-1326’s bill page is linked first below. I had heard some rumors so it’s good to have some specifics to examine. I wanted to get this out there faster than I had time to digest, so don’t expect more than a quick rundown of the things that I find concerning. I will be watching the bill and hoping to speak against what I’m about to share with you. If you have concerns of your own that you want to share, please speak up. In broad strokes, this bill continues the PUC for a while forward, but (as is their wont) the sponsors couldn’t help tossing in some extra goodies. Some fees go up,...
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When “blight” becomes a tool: How redevelopment labels unlock subsidies and eminent domain
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, Local

When “blight” becomes a tool: How redevelopment labels unlock subsidies and eminent domain

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project It’s all blight … if you’re clever enough I had a friend (a Catholic) who once quipped that you can do anything you want in the Catholic church as long as you can find the right priest. I’ve thought about that quote in a variety of contexts because it’s pretty applicable. It certainly is in the Denverite article linked first below. That article details how the Denver Urban Renewal Authority (DURA) will be investigating the potential new location of the new Bronco’s stadium for evidence of blight. Why you ask? A quote from the article details the reason: “The study could mark another significant step in the area’s redevelopment. It could eventually lead to the establishment of an urban re...
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Follow the funding: Commentary examines Gary Community Ventures media grants and Colorado Sun coverage
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Follow the funding: Commentary examines Gary Community Ventures media grants and Colorado Sun coverage

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project An example of the coverage Gary Community Ventures (GCV) supported This post is a continuation of a series on the media grants issued by Gary Community Ventures. The first link below is to Monday’s newsletter, the previous installment. It will have a link to the first installment in it. In today’s post, I want to look at the coverage that GCV paid for, specifically the efforts by the progressive outlet Colorado Sun. In previous posts, I mentioned how the Colorado Sun raised their hand when GCV asked if anyone would like grant money to fund coverage on childcare in Colorado. I also mentioned how the Colorado Media Project (CMP, and some of its consultants like journalism professor Corey H...
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Following the funding: A closer look at Gary Community Ventures’ role in Colorado advocacy
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Following the funding: A closer look at Gary Community Ventures’ role in Colorado advocacy

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Meet Gary Community Ventures Earlier, I wrote about an effort by Gary Community Ventures, GCV, to (from their perspective) start a conversation about childcare in this state. I showed you their “Request for Proposals” to pay media outlets to write about Colorado’s struggling childcare system. That newsletter is linked first below. As before, what I hope you take from this is to get an understanding of how grant-funded coverage like the Colorado Sun’s is generated, as well as a framework with which to assess the players. Rather than offering you a definitive take on some ulterior motive--something that I’d be lying if I told you I had--I will offer you information with which to come to your own ...
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“The market can’t fix childcare”: Who is shaping Colorado’s narrative
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

“The market can’t fix childcare”: Who is shaping Colorado’s narrative

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Gary Community Ventures, The Colorado Sun and setting common sense The Colorado Sun recently launched a series, “Out of Reach”, describing what they term “Colorado’s crumbling child care system”. The series caught my eye due to a statement appearing in the first installment. William Browning, president and CEO of Clayton Early Learning in Denver, said (among other things, and I quote here from the first link below): “The market can’t fix child care.” This brought to mind something a friend had told me a while back. Depending on the individual the blame may lay anywhere on the spectrum from intent to a variety of unrelated factors lining up, but the thinking is the same. If the childcare ...
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Electric school buses and winter limits: What physics has to say
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Electric school buses and winter limits: What physics has to say

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project So, about those electric school busses… It's been so mild here in Colorado, I wonder if this has been noticed, but I saw the NY Post article below and thought I'd share.It details some parental complaints out of New York about the mandated electric busses. Quoting the lede:"Parents in Western New York are raising alarms over cold rides and breakdowns after officials mandated that all school bus purchases must be electric by 2027."The problem's not hard to figure out. It's so fundamental that it goes all the way down to energy conservation (and something I've touched on more than once in the past -- see "Related" below).For an internal combustion engine, the heat in the compartment is either waste heat from t...
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