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Colorado’s Citizen Initiative Process Faces Growing Influence From Deep Pockets
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado’s Citizen Initiative Process Faces Growing Influence From Deep Pockets

By Colleen Slevin | The Colorado Sun High cost of getting a measure on the ballot has given wealthy interests more power to push their agendas. Colorado loves its ballot questions, ranking among the top states for the most on the ballot. But voters also like to say no — a lot. In the over 100 years that Colorado voters have been able to petition to put questions on the state’s ballot, only 36% of the 256 questions that made it on the ballot have passed, according to a tally by the state legislature. Questions referred to the ballot by state lawmakers have done better, passing nearly 60% of the time. Between 1960 and 2024, Colorado had the third highest number of voter-initiated ballot measures, behind California and Oregon, according to John Mat...
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Lake Mead And Lake Powell Hit Historic Lows As Colorado River Crisis Deepens
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Lake Mead And Lake Powell Hit Historic Lows As Colorado River Crisis Deepens

By Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette In the past 10 days, both Lake Mead on the Arizona-Nevada border and Lake Powell roughly 300 miles northeast on the Utah-Arizona line have recorded their lowest water levels since the reservoirs were first filled. Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir and which supplies water to Nevada, Arizona and California, measured 1,040.4 feet above sea level on Aug. 7. The level has continued to drop since then. On Monday, the reservoir measured 1,039.83 feet above sea level, nearly 190 feet below full and down about 2 feet over the past 30 days. A year ago, Lake Mead stood at roughly 1,054 feet. Hoover Dam, which created Lake Mead, was built in 1935. The reservoir was last at full in 1983. If the reservoir loses an...
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One-party rule, one-way press access in Colorado
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

One-party rule, one-way press access in Colorado

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Complete Colorado Republicans in Colorado have, at best, a ”fraught” relationship with liberal local news media. Given this history, it’s probably not surprising that when Republicans refuse to talk to the progressive press, they enthusiastically spill ink over it. To wit, journalism professor Corey Hutchins, in a recent edition of his media newsletter, noted how Republican gubernatorial candidate Victor Marx denied some media outlets access on the night of the GOP primary, saying that his campaign chose not to rely on legacy media to tell its story. Think what you will about the maturity of Republicans or the news media, their squabbles hide something more important, especially given Colorado is run almost entirely by Democrats. Many Dem...
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Cherry Creek, Poudre among Colorado districts flagged for draining reserves
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Cherry Creek, Poudre among Colorado districts flagged for draining reserves

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice For years, the story of a Colorado school district in fiscal trouble has looked the same. Small. Rural. A few hundred students on the plains or up a mountain valley, squeezed by declining enrollment and a thin local tax base. This year the Office of the State Auditor put three very different names on that list: Cherry Creek, Colorado Springs 11, and Poudre. Three of the largest, most visible districts in the state, each newly flagged after missing two benchmarks tied to operating margins and a shrinking fund balance. The report, dated July 30, tracks the financial health of all 178 Colorado school districts across the three years ending June 30, 2025. It runs six ratios against each district. Miss two or more and you l...
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Jade’s escape: From a government-assigned school to a Jesuit work-study education
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Wayne's Word, Approved, Commentary, State

Jade’s escape: From a government-assigned school to a Jesuit work-study education

By Wayne Laugesen | Commentary, Wayne's Word A quiet war rages in Colorado classrooms. The casualties are almost always the children of the poor, ethnic and racial minorities. For decades, defenders of our state’s public education monopoly have built a fortress around zip-code budgeting. They tell low-income parents to wait for the next tax hike or bureaucratic restructuring. But a young Denver girl named Jade didn’t have time to wait. Her childhood—her prime learning years—was ticking away. Trapped by GeographyJade grew up in a low-income household where ambition ran high but financial options ran dry. In her government-assigned school, she faced a system designed for uniformity rather than excellence.Wealthy families simply write a check for private tuition. For Jade’...
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New Study Finds Government Taxes and Fees Add Tens Of Thousands To Colorado Home Prices
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Commentary, State

New Study Finds Government Taxes and Fees Add Tens Of Thousands To Colorado Home Prices

By Peter Lifari | Commentary, The Denver Gazette Colorado’s economic competitiveness is slipping, and housing affordability is one of the most important reasons why. Policymakers have more control over this than they might think.   A new report from the Common Sense Institute details tens of thousands of dollars in housing-construction costs created not by land or water scarcity, labor costs, materials costs, market conditions or interest rates — but by nothing more than policy.  Housing affordability is as much an economic development and competitiveness issue as it is a social one. That matters in a state tracking business establishment losses and domestic migration losses.  This is a relatively new development for Colorado. For years, the ...
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Supreme Court Sets Date for Colorado Religious Liberty Showdown
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THE HILL, Approved, State

Supreme Court Sets Date for Colorado Religious Liberty Showdown

By Zach Schonfeld | The Hill The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Nov. 3 in its major case asking whether Colorado can force Catholic preschools to enroll children of same-sex couples to receive public funds.  The justices previously agreed to take up the case, which provides a pathway for the high court to narrow a major religious precedent.  On Tuesday, the court released its November argument calendar, setting the stage for the case to be heard on the same day as the midterm elections.  It’s the latest First Amendment challenge to Colorado’s LGBTQ protections to arrive at the Supreme Court.  READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE HILL
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Megan Trussell’s Legacy Drives New Colorado Missing Student Law
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Megan Trussell’s Legacy Drives New Colorado Missing Student Law

By Danielle Kreutter | Denver7 Denver7 sits down with the parents of Megan Trussell, a CU student who was found dead in Boulder days after going missing, who championed the new law. DENVER — Megan Trussell's parents hope her legacy is one of justice and integrity. Through their support of SB26-120, which went into effect Aug. 12, they hope they continue to strive for that. "I hope that Megan is remembered. And, she is remembered as the person she was. As the unique, funny, magnetic person that she was," said Joe Trussell, Megan's father. The University of Colorado student disappeared in February 2025 and was found dead days later. Megan's parents have long been critical of the response when she first went missing. "One of the most frust...
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Colorado Built a Taxpayer-Funded System to Transition Children While Sidelining Parents
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The Federalist, Approved, State

Colorado Built a Taxpayer-Funded System to Transition Children While Sidelining Parents

By Breccan F. Thies | Commentary, The Federalist Colorado medical students are taught that children as young as 18 months old can ‘distinguish between gender identities,’ and by six years old, ‘develop his or her own gender identity.’ Colorado has been using taxpayer dollars to groom children into believing they are “transgender” and point them to mutilation surgeries, emphasizing that many do not need parental consent. According to a new report from Do No Harm, Colorado spends millions of dollars on government programs, social media influencer campaigns, and medical school curriculums all aimed at convincing children they are a different gender, pointing them toward medicalization, and bullying the parents who do not want to destroy their children. Colorad...
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Colorado Homeownership Slips Further Out of Reach as Prices Outpace Incomes
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The Coloradoan, Approved, State

Colorado Homeownership Slips Further Out of Reach as Prices Outpace Incomes

By Nate Trela | The Coloradoan A new study on homeownership shows just how unaffordable buying a home is across the country, including two Colorado metro areas where homebuying is out of reach for most of their residents even if mortgage rates were set to 0%. The report using data .from Ziffy.ai, an AI-powered real estate investment platform, included the Boulder and Grand Junction areas among dozens of examples of markets where more than half of the homes are unaffordable for most households, even if mortgages did not require paying interest. The analysis defines affordability as when the total monthly housing costs — principal, interest, taxes and insurance — are no more than 30% of the median household income in a market. It based the mortgage calculations...
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