Colorado Politics

 Trump reduces size of 2 national monuments in Utah amid public lands revamp | OUT WEST ROUNDUP

UTAH Trump shrinks national monuments President Donald Trump on July 13 sharply reduced the size of two national monuments in Utah, undoing protections established by his Democratic predecessors on public lands that are sacred among many Native Americans. Bears Ears...

 Big GOP names address rumors they want to challenge Gov. Lamm | A LOOK BACK

Forty-Five Years Ago This Week: With few Republican candidates announced for the gubernatorial race, the political rumor mill was in full force. Secretary at the Department of Housing and Urban Development Phil Winn, a former Colorado Republican Party chairman, felt...

 Democrats and the siren call of socialism | SONDERMANN

The political pendulum continues to swing, though its arc these days seems far more volatile and exaggerated. While there have always been outliers and more extreme actors on the political spectrum, the pendulum for many years was more of a...

 Will Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’ independent streak define his legacy?

Sometimes aligned with his party and at other times apart from it, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has spent much of his tenure charting his own course. That independent streak carried through fights over labor policy, rural anger over wolf reintroduction...

 Democrat John Hickenlooper hauls in $1.3 million in 2nd quarter in Colorado’s U.S. Senate race

U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper’s reelection campaign raised just over $1.3 million in the year’s second quarter and finished the period with $2 million in the bank, leaving the first-term Democrat with nearly 80 times as much cash on hand as...

 Finding of no discrimination against former Cherry Creek Schools principal upheld

The Denver-based federal appeals court agreed on Friday that a judge properly resolved a former Cherry Creek School District administrator’s claims of discrimination in the district’s favor based on employees’ “loss of confidence” in her leadership. Linda Maccagnan was a...

 What to know before Colorado’s new law on semiautomatic firearms goes into effect

A Colorado law passed in 2025 established new requirements for individuals planning to purchase semiautomatic weapons. Here’s what residents should know before Senate Bill 003 goes into effect on Aug. 1. From a ban to a training course For decades,...

 Campaign launched to redirect $1 billion in TABOR refunds to education

A coalition that includes the state teachers’ union on Tuesday launched a campaign for a ballot proposal that would reduce more than $1 billion in taxpayer refunds and spend the money on education. The measure is among several campaigns taking...

 Arapahoe County murder prosecution botched a second time as appeals court reverses for same mistake

Colorado’s second-highest court reversed a man’s felony murder conviction for the second time on Thursday after an Arapahoe County prosecutor made the same mistake that triggered reversal of the defendant’s first conviction years earlier. Although David Alberto Garcia was not...

 Trump alleges ‘deep state’ suppressed Chinese interference in 2020 election

President Donald Trump used a primetime address to allege the “deep state” suppressed Communist Party of China attempts to meddle in the 2020 election. As Trump made the allegations of election interference from the White House’s East Room, he declassified...

 WATCH: Trump speaks on elections in primetime address

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will deliver a primetime address Thursday that he says will include a focus on elections. The speech comes as he’s escalated calls for Republicans to pass tighter federal voting rules for November’s midterm elections....

 Federal judge dismisses lawyer’s disability discrimination claims against judge

A federal judge dismissed a lawyer’s discrimination claims last month against a judge in El Paso County who allegedly failed to provide reasonable accommodations for her long COVID disability. Andrea M. Hall sued District Court Judge Chad Miller and his...

 As Trump targets DEI programs, Polis says he worries about federal dollars used as ‘political football’

Colorado’s governor has officially opposed a proposed White House rule that would change procedures for grants, cooperative agreements and other forms of federal financial assistance. Gov. Jared Polis said the proposal from the White House Office of Management and Budget...

 Ex-Broncos linebacker’s discrimination lawsuit returned to Colorado court

A federal judge returned a former Broncos linebacker’s disability discrimination lawsuit to state court last month, rejecting the NFL defendants’ attempt to keep the case in federal court. Randy Gregory, who played for the Broncos between 2022 and 2023, sued...

 Signatures submitted to cap Colorado’s income tax rate

The group behind a ballot measure aiming to cap the state’s income tax at the current rate has submitted signatures from voters to election officials for review, part of the tug and pull in Colorado between opposing political forces fighting...

 Colorado governor says he doesn’t want socialists to ‘destroy’ state

The ideological divide within the Colorado Democratic Party once more burst into the open on Wednesday when Gov. Jared Polis responded to a legislator’s criticism by referencing Zimbabwe’s socialist experiment. “Thanks to socialism, the average Zimbabwean became a trillionaire,” the...

 Republican candidates pass on signing Colorado gubernatorial nominee Victor Marx’s ‘unity compact’

A spokesperson for Republican gubernatorial nominee Victor Marx said his campaign is “extremely encouraged” by responses to a document the campaign circulated late last week, asking fellow GOP nominees how they want to collaborate in the months ahead before Colorado’s...

 10th Circuit concludes Army was justified in initially withholding Purple Heart to soldier

The Denver-based federal appeals court agreed last week that the U.S. Army was “substantially justified” in its initial decision to withhold the Purple Heart from an injured soldier, then reverse itself when new evidence surfaced during litigation. Joshua Savelkoul ultimately...

 Todd Blanche confronts Democrats’ questions over Epstein files handling: ‘That narrative is false’

President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Todd Blanche, said Wednesday that he could meet with disgraced and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s victims but could not directly approach survivors represented by lawyers, responding to Sen. Dick Durbin’s (D-IL) demands...

 Senators introduce bipartisan bill to save Social Security

A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation Tuesday aimed at forcing Congress to confront Social Security’s looming funding shortfall before automatic benefit cuts take effect. The proposal comes as the latest report from Social Security trustees warns that the program’s...

 Trump’s popularity worsens with Iran ceasefire falling apart

President Donald Trump remains low in new approval ratings, with only 37% of people saying they approve of his job performance in his second term so far. The latest Economist/YouGov poll, with more than 1,600 respondents between July 10 and...

 House GOP releases budget framework for $95 billion reconciliation bill

The House Budget Committee released the budget framework for Republicans’ third party-line spending bill, with a top line of $95 billion in spending. The resolution includes spending instructions for four committees: the House Administration Committee at $10 billion, the House...

 Trump says ‘we cannot give up’ on ICE vehicle stops after temporary halt

WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he doesn’t want to see the end of vehicle stops conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after they were halted by the agency Tuesday in response to multiple fatal officer-involved shootings. The...

 Judge takes injunction in termination case against Denver, Johnston, others under advisement

Jessica Calderon, the Denver employee who won a temporary restraining order preventing the City and County of Denver from terminating her amid the 2025 citywide layoffs, appeared in federal court today for a preliminary injunction hearing in her lawsuit against...

 Colorado kids’ health, education challenges persist, report shows

Despite having one of the country’s highest median incomes, Colorado families are struggling to afford essentials like food, housing, health care and child care. That’s according to the Colorado Children’s Campaign, which released its annual Kids Count report recently. It...

 Colorado receives $5.8 million in federal weatherization assistance grants

Colorado has received nearly $6 million in federal funds through the Department of Energy’s Weatherization Assistance Program after U.S. senators expressed worries about potential delays. In May, U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Susan Collins, R-ME, issued...

 Judge removes Fremont County DA from murder case

Discovery violations cited in at least 23 cases since former El Paso County prosecutor took over the office Eleventh Judicial District Attorney Jeffrey Lindsey and his entire office in Fremont County were removed from a double homicide and kidnapping case...

 Federal judges’ backlogs increase in Colorado

Colorado’s federal trial judges collectively had 73 motions in civil cases that had been sitting on their dockets for at least six months without a ruling as of March 31, a backlog that nearly doubled from the previous reporting period....

 DougCo approves $2M rideshare expansion to Castle Rock

Douglas County commissioners approved a $2 million agreement Tuesday to expand the county’s Link On Demand rideshare service into Castle Rock through a one-year pilot program scheduled to begin later this summer. The Board of County Commissioners approved a Master...

 Record utility rate requests hit $9.2 billion nationwide in second quarter

Colorado had no requests last quarter Electric and gas utilities sought a record $9.2 billion in rate increases nationwide during the second quarter, according to a new analysis by the consumer advocacy organization PowerLines, as utilities continue seeking billions for...