The Denver Post editorial: Jeff Sessions wise to hear out Hickenlooper on marijuana
Colorado’s cannabis industry and its fans should take note. A meeting Wednesday in Washington between Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Gov. John Hickenlooper suggests the federal crackdown we’ve been concerned about isn’t coming any time soon, and likely isn’t coming at all.
Hickenlooper’s chief of staff, Doug Friednash, tells us the hour-long meeting to discuss Colorado’s cannabis laws and the threat of federal intervention went amicably. The biggest takeaways, Friednash said, are that the new attorney general is far more focused on other priorities, like securing the border with a wall, than in disrupting our legal cannabis marketplace.
Sessions indicated his office was reviewing a directive — known as the Cole memo — from the Obama administration that led to the current status quo where the feds allow states that have legalized marijuana to operate without undue interference.
The biggest accelerant of our political tribalism | SONDERMANN
Eric Sondermann
eric-sondermann@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 3 days ago
In years past, my go-to word in describing our political condition was “polarization.” I used it endlessly and still do on occasion. But as time has moved on, and the divide has only grown in depth and toxicity, polarization no...
Capitol M: Return to Gold Dome High, 2026 edition, and a salute to old IU
Marianne Goodland
marianne.goodland@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 2 days ago
Welcome back, campers! The 2026 legislative session is upon the good citizens of Colorado, and for a few, the first Monday of the session, Jan. 19, was pretty special. There are at least four folks in the Capitol who are...
Sundance kicks off in Utah with premieres, emotional tributes to Robert Redford | OUT WEST ROUNDUP
Ernest Luning
ernest.luning@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 2 days ago
UTAH Redford hailed at Sundance kick-off PARK CITY — Robert Redford liked to say that everybody has a story. He’s not the only person who said it, but he is one of the few who did something to celebrate it,...
Governor’s lobbyists should be banned from the house floor, legislator argues | A LOOK BACK
Rachael Wright
rachael.wright@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 2 days ago
Forty-Five Years Ago This Week: State Rep. Bob Stephenson, R-Colorado Springs, created an uproar in the chambers of the House of Representatives after he proposed a rule change that would ban the governor’s lobbyists from the House floor during the...
Republican candidates debate how to win the governor’s seat in Colorado — a position the GOP last secured in 2002
Thelma Grimes
thelma.grimes@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 16 hours ago
Colorado has not elected a Republican governor since 2002. On Thursday night, four candidates offered competing visions for how the party can reverse its 20-plus years of failing to secure the seat. The discussion hosted by the Women of Weld...
Colorado’s charitable gaming board to study Denver Gazette’s findings
David Migoya
david.migoya@gazette.com
Updated 17 hours ago
Colorado’s freshman board overseeing the state’s $110 million charitable gaming industry on Friday created a committee to tackle issues raised in a Denver Gazette investigation that exposed, among other issues, poor supervision and illegal operators. The Colorado Charitable Gaming Board,...
10th Circuit to address resentencing of probation violators in rare all-judges hearing
Michael Karlik
michael.karlik@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 21 hours ago
The Denver-based federal appeals court agreed on Thursday to hold a rare all-judges hearing to determine the proper procedure for resentencing a criminal defendant who has violated the terms of his probation. In the federal appellate courts, the vast majority...
Vape shops challenge Denver’s flavored tobacco ban in court
Deborah Grigsby
deborah.smith@denvergazette.com
Updated 18 hours ago
The smoke has yet to settle in the battle over the city’s flavored tobacco ban as local vape shop owners have sued the City and County of Denver, asking the court to declare the ordinance unconstitutional and stop its enforcement....
US officially leaves the World Health Organization
Washington Examiner Staff, Washington Examiner
washington.examiner.staff.washington.examiner@gazetteedit.wpenginepowered.com
Updated 23 hours ago
The United States officially withdrew from the World Health Organization on Thursday, slightly over a year after President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw the U.S. from the WHO via an executive order on the first day of his...
Report: Colorado government has grown beyond TABOR’s limits
Marissa Ventrelli
marissa.ventrelli@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 15 hours ago
Colorado’s government has grown substantially over the past three decades beyond the limits that voters approved to restrain that expansion, according to a new report from a think tank. The analysis from the Independence Institute, which examines state spending, revenue...
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The Loveland Reporter-Herald editorial: Don't bee panicked, but help our pollinators
Upon hearing the news that a number of Front Range beekeepers lost most or all of their colonies over the winter, it might be easy to jump to the conclusion that the sky is falling, and that dead bees are falling to the ground with it. Certainly, the loss of bee colonies is troubling, considering […]
Conservative think tank petitions public: No more 4/20 rallies
Colorado Christian University’s onboard think tank, the unflinchingly conservative Centennial Institute, is circulating a petition that seeks to make last week’s annual “4/20” pot fest in downtown Denver the city’s last. The online petition reads: Denver’s 4/20 rallies have become unsafe, flaunting blatant illegal activity, and trashing a national historic landmark, and with incidents of knife […]