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Legislative transparency takes a hit as video livestream decision stalls
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State

Legislative transparency takes a hit as video livestream decision stalls

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Update-a-palooza on legislative livestreams and campaign finance complaints I wanted to update some stories I’ve been following before they get too stale (as you can see in today’s third post, I’ll be taking the rest of the week off). First, and simplest, is an update to whether or not the state legislature will continue what was a pilot program to livestream legislative committee hearings (video and audio instead of just audio). The Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition story linked first below offers more details, but the upshot is that the legislature is a decided “maybe” on whether or not to continue it. The livestreams, at least according to the article, are pretty popular but it seems the sticking point ...
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The numbers didn’t match: El Paso’s canvass exposes a statewide reporting failure the state never explained
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

The numbers didn’t match: El Paso’s canvass exposes a statewide reporting failure the state never explained

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado voters expected a routine post–Election Day canvass after the November 4 coordinated election. Instead, El Paso County became ground zero for the latest crisis involving Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s office after a canvass board member noticed that the numbers on the state’s website didn’t match the county’s certified reports. The mismatch surfaced publicly after businessman and election analyst Peter Bernegger posted screenshots of the Election Night Reporting (ENR) CSV file on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/PeterBernegger/status/1991610012989329540?s=20 What began as one discrepancy quickly revealed a statewide reporting failure. The ENR CSV file published by the Secretary of State contained contest-level totals that ...
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The Press Has Become the Enemy of Truth and The Epstein Pattern Proves It
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

The Press Has Become the Enemy of Truth and The Epstein Pattern Proves It

By C.J. Garbo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice There was a time in this country when journalism meant something. It meant moral courage. It meant truth telling. It meant pulling corruption into the light even if it scorched the powerful. That era is gone. The modern press no longer defends truth. It orchestrates narratives. It does not expose the darkness. It manages it. If you want the clearest proof, look no further than the Jeffrey Epstein case. No story in modern American history has better revealed the press’s rotting soul. Epstein ran a global trafficking operation involving the rich, the powerful, and the politically connected. Children were abused. Women were exploited. A network of elites participated or enabled. And yet the media’s coverage has been sporadic, ...
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Colorado Ethics Watch Alleges Misconduct by Democratic Legislators at Vail Retreat
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Ethics Watch Alleges Misconduct by Democratic Legislators at Vail Retreat

By: Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Colorado Common Cause filed complaints Wednesday with the state ethics commission against 12 Democratic state lawmakers, alleging they accepted funding from the “dark money” group One Main Street Colorado for a three-day retreat at a luxury hotel in Vail last October. The complaints said the lawmakers accepted illegal gifts from One Main Street that violate Amendment 41, the state’s ethics amendment, also known as Article 29 of the state Constitution. Under that amendment, lawmakers are not allowed to accept gifts exceeding $75 per person per year. But the cost of the rooms at the Sonnenalp Vail came in at about $25,000 for the lawmakers. The complaint claimed the hotel charges $316 to $500 per night. Common Cause also said th...
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FBI and DOJ Coordinated with White House on Secretive ‘Arctic Frost’ Surveillance of Trump Associates
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Just The News, Approved, National

FBI and DOJ Coordinated with White House on Secretive ‘Arctic Frost’ Surveillance of Trump Associates

By Jerry Dunleavy | Just the News Evidence continues to emerge showing the top levels of the Biden Administration involved in the investigations into once-and-future rival Donald Trump. Members of the Biden White House and leaders at the Biden-era Justice Department and FBI were all involved in efforts linked to the launch of the Arctic Frost investigation which targeted then-former President Donald Trump and MAGA World over the events surrounding January 6, 2021. Recently-declassified revelations related to the FBI’s “Arctic Frost” investigation chronicle the 2022 lawfare assault against then-former President Donald Trump and MAGA world, as criminal inquiries — which would soon lead to criminal charges — spun into high gear as Trump leaned toward running for p...
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Colorado Supreme Court Expands Who Can Sue Over Secret Government Meetings
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Supreme Court Expands Who Can Sue Over Secret Government Meetings

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that organizations are entitled to the same recovery of their costs as individuals when they successfully pursue a public entity’s violation of the state’s open meetings law. The Colorado Open Meetings Law permits “any person” to challenge a violation of the law. At the same time, it grants “the citizen” who proves a violation the right to relief and to recover the cost of litigation for holding the government accountable. The question for the Supreme Court was whether an organization, such as a newspaper, is a citizen entitled to the benefits of the law. By 6-1, the court answered yes. “It would be absurd to allow corporations — who are recognized as persons in one part of the statutory scheme an...
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Governor’s mansion doubles as free soapbox for First Gentleman’s animal agenda
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Governor’s mansion doubles as free soapbox for First Gentleman’s animal agenda

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project The First Gentleman's lecture series -- who's footing the bill? A couple weeks back, I noticed an article about a talk at the governor's mansion about wolf reintroduction involving the First Gentleman and his guests for the evening. The article is linked first below if you'd like to give it a read.If you know anything about the First Gentleman, you know he is a dedicated animal rights activist. Has been for a while. It should therefore not shock anyone that the guests at this talk were also animal rights/wildlife advocates.I won't go into the details of the talk. I'll leave it to you to read up if you'd like.The First Gentleman has the same First Amendment rights as anyone else. He's welcome to have an opinion and expre...
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Denver’s $950 million bond: Taxpayers deserve full accountability before another blank check
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Westword, Approved, Commentary, Local

Denver’s $950 million bond: Taxpayers deserve full accountability before another blank check

By Erik Clarke | Commentary, Westword "Denver residents want to support good projects that improve our daily life and solve real problems. Taxpayers also want to know that their money is being managed responsibly." In 2017, Denver voters approved the $937 million Elevate Denver Bond Program to improve civic infrastructure across the city. Eight years later, while some projects have made meaningful progress, many remain delayed, over budget or not yet started. Now, the city is preparing to ask voters to approve another nearly billion dollars through the proposed Vibrant Denver package. Before we’re asked to vote this November, we deserve more than summaries and categories. We deserve transparency. We deserve details. As of today, there is no public cost breakdown ...
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Budget Gaps Lead to Layoff Notices for Denver Employees
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Local, Approved, kdvr.com

Budget Gaps Lead to Layoff Notices for Denver Employees

By Kim Posey | KDVR Fox 31 DENVER (KDVR) — After weeks of uncertainty, Denver employees are now finding out if they will be laid off. Mayor Mike Johnston’s office said impacted employees would be notified Monday and Tuesday. The mayor’s office announced Monday that the city is eliminating 928 positions out of about 11,000, in an effort to deal with a $200 million budget shortfall. But only 171 of those are layoffs, as another 645 are vacant positions that won’t be filled, and 92 are positions that will be transferred to alternate funding sources. Alvin Tafoya, the former deputy director of the Financial Empowerment Division, says he was one of the workers laid off. Tafoya said his department was told to work from home today, and he was let go during a virtual meeting at 9 a.m. ...
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Aurora ICE visit leaves Colorado Democrats with more questions than answers
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Fox31, Approved, Local

Aurora ICE visit leaves Colorado Democrats with more questions than answers

By Gabrielle Franklin | KDVR.com DENVER (KDVR) — A handful of Democrats in Colorado’s congressional delegation went inside the GEO ICE facility in Aurora on Monday. The visit comes as they try to gain clarity and access from the Trump administration about what is going on there. They spoke with members of the press after the visit to share what they say they saw. Democratic U.S. House members from Colorado visited the ICE facility, saying they left the building with more questions than answers. “When I walked through the facility, it felt like a prison,” Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen said at a press conference following the visit. The Colorado Democratic congressional members said the GEO ICE facility in Aurora has changed since the last time they went inside it. “Afte...
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