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Property squatters would face stiff $1,000-a-day fines in HB 1104, slated to be heard Feb. 4
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Property squatters would face stiff $1,000-a-day fines in HB 1104, slated to be heard Feb. 4

By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice The Colorado solution to a national problem of squatters occupying a property without consent or ownership and with few remedies to remove them will be considered Tuesday during the House Judiciary Committee. House Bill 25-1104, by Rep. Rebecca Keltie, is slated to be heard at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, in HCR 0107. It will mark the first hearing of a bill written and sponsored by the freshman Republican representing District 16 in El Paso County. "A person who occupies a premises without the consent of the landowner commits the new crime of squatting," the bill reads, with a first offense resulting in an unclassified misdemeanor and a $2,000 fine per offense. Upon conviction, the court shall fine the offender $1,000 per day the property was ...
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Boebert leads legislation to delist wolves from federal protection
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Boebert leads legislation to delist wolves from federal protection

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colorado 4th, and U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wisc. 7th, have introduced the Pet and Livestock Protection Act to delist the gray wolf from the endangered species list and prioritize the safety and success of America's agriculture community. The bill would also remove the ability of a judge to rule against science, and allow states to set their own rules and regulations for the management of grey wolves. Ranchers, hunters and many people across the west who want to protect their livelihoods of their neighbors are finally feeling heard.  There is no place more than Colorado’s West Slope that supports this measure. In response to the proposed bill, Laurie J. from New Mexico said on social media,...
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Gun owners, 2A advocates asked to ‘stand up and fight’ during first caucus event
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Gun owners, 2A advocates asked to ‘stand up and fight’ during first caucus event

By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice LOVELAND — A collection of state legislators, advocates and gun dealers gathered here Saturday at The Gallery Range & Restaurant in an effort to unify the state's 2nd Amendment supporters. "This is the first step we are a taking as a caucus," said state Rep. Ryan Armagost, who with Rep. Scott Bottoms chair the newly-formed 2nd Amendment Caucus in the Colorado House. "We're trying to get the word out on a lot of levels," Bottoms added. "What does it mean to be a firearms owner in Colorado?" They were joined by freshmen Reps. Rebecca Keltie, in El Paso County's District 16, and Larry Don Suckla, from the eight-county District 58 on the Western Slope. "I'm not just a gun advocate," Keltie said. "I support the 2nd Amendment. I believe i...
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Moms for Liberty leader targeted after El Paso Democratic Party vice chair’s call to ‘choose violence’
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Moms for Liberty leader targeted after El Paso Democratic Party vice chair’s call to ‘choose violence’

By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Kristy Davis woke up to an email that made her stomach drop. "Where you live, worthless c$#!? I have a sharp blade to stick in your worthless neck." Less than 24 hours earlier, El Paso County Democratic Party First Vice Chair Rob Rogers had posted online: "Being nice is overrated. Just find a good lawyer and choose violence." Davis, the El Paso County chapter president for Moms for Liberty (M4L), doesn’t believe it was a coincidence. "While I cannot definitely tie the death threat to the vice chair, the timing is just really suspect," Davis said. The Colorado Springs Police Department provided Davis with a case number. But beyond that, no action has been taken. "Law enforcement provided me with a case ...
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CPW has kept wolf parasites causing Hydatid disease, which can be lethal to humans, secret from public
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CPW has kept wolf parasites causing Hydatid disease, which can be lethal to humans, secret from public

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer. Rocky Mountain Voice As if there aren’t enough controversies around the consequences of wolf reintroduction in Colorado — impacts to livestock growers, impacts to deer, elk and other ungulate herds — there is another danger that has gone mostly unspoken by wildlife officials. This danger is to humans, predominantly children, transferred to them by their beloved pets, after being exposed to the parasite. Echinococcus granulosus is a parasitic tapeworm that transfers to deer, domestic cattle, domestic sheep, elk and moose, along with domestic cattle, sheep, domestic pets and humans. Interestingly, infestations of the parasites are relatively benign to wolves, but for the ungulates wild and domestic, and pets, the risk of transfer to humans in...
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Minary: Conservatives could cause change if we would get involved, become informed, always vote and run for office
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Minary: Conservatives could cause change if we would get involved, become informed, always vote and run for office

By Russ Minary | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Americans, across the political spectrum, have become frustrated with the entire election process and feel that they are powerless. They feel their views and needs are ignored.  Consequently, they have unplugged from the very system which was designed as an effective way for them to manage their local governments, rather than vice versa.  It is a sad fact that the single largest voting bloc in Colorado and in many parts of the U.S. is unaffiliated.  That’s a clear indication that neither political party has engaged this group of voters. Republicans often use the word ‘conservative’, assuming the average person knows what it means.  They don’t.  Many Republicans don’t, either.  So, we on the polit...
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State’s failure to pass through federal funds to firefighting agencies is putting SW Colorado operations at risk
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State’s failure to pass through federal funds to firefighting agencies is putting SW Colorado operations at risk

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Emergency responders and firefighting agencies in Southwest Colorado are sounding the alarm and calling for immediate resolution to unpaid invoices going back, in some cases, to July 2024, because of, some say, utter incompetence by the State of Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control’s (DFPC) billing processing office. In a Jan. 27 meeting at the Upper Pine Fire District in Bayfield, county emergency management personnel, regional fire district leadership teams, representatives from multiple counties and state and local officials met to discuss the dysfunctions that could lead to an all-out crisis as the 2025 fire season approaches, because of a huge backlog in getting collective invoices for payment processed. ...
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Devotional: Vision is not just a cliché, but requires action
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Devotional: Vision is not just a cliché, but requires action

By DRAKE HUNTER | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Vision is not just a buzzword, it's a crucial aspect of effective leadership — here, there, and everywhere. Let’s examine its true meaning and how it can empower us to lead with purpose and meaning. Unfortunately, vision has lost its meaning and purpose today; it has become clichéd. Phrases like “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” “You can't see the forest for the trees,” and the ever-popular “Where there is no vision, the people perish” are overused. People frequently discuss vision, but few truly understand its significance and power. Let's not underestimate the power of vision. It's not just a passive idea or a fleeting dream; it's a force that can empower us to understand and reason our purpose and meaning in life. When a...
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Walcher: Throw off climate suffocation and ‘shovel, baby, shovel’
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Walcher: Throw off climate suffocation and ‘shovel, baby, shovel’

By Greg Walcher | Guest Columnist, Rocky Mountain Voice, via GregWalcher.com My friend Amos Eno, one of the country’s leading conservation experts, spent a decade running the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and more recently the Land Conservation Assistance Network. His writing appears in all the right publications, and he is a popular speaker at conferences everywhere.  Writing about the old/new President’s endorsement of the almost-cliché adage, “Drill, baby, drill,” he added another related, but separate, concept: “Shovel, baby, shovel.” It is an apt way to describe what he calls an urgent need “to resurrect our mining of strategic and critical minerals and coal, throwing off the wet blanket of climate suffocation policies.” There is considerable attention and deb...
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Wolves will continue to be a ‘burden’ to livestock producers, Cattlemen’s Association says at Farm Show
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Wolves will continue to be a ‘burden’ to livestock producers, Cattlemen’s Association says at Farm Show

By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice A little more than four years ago, voters statewide supported Prop. 114 to reintroduce gray wolves to Colorado. As long as it is the law, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials are directed to implement it, cattle raisers are going to have to face the challenge, Colorado Cattlemen’s Association Executive Vice President Erin Karney said Tuesday in a lecture kicking off the Colorado Farm Show. "It is going to continue to be a burden to livestock producers," she said. She argues, though, what might be viewed as a Western Slope issue is a concern on both sides of the continental divide, noting the operations of Eastern Colorado cattle raisers, feedlots, sale barns and processing plants. "A lot of our members are directly affected," Karne...
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