The Pueblo Chieftain: Bring back Circle Program drug treatment in Pueblo
State officials want to restore the Circle Program for drug treatment in this region, but no longer on the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo campus.
Subject to $1.9 million of funding being approved by the Colorado Legislature, the 20-bed Circle Program would be assigned to a mental health agency in the Pueblo region. If the state cannot find a suitable agency to run it here, the program could be moved elsewhere in the state.
Reopening the Circle Program at the state hospital would be the preferred outcome. However, if the state is committed to moving it off campus, we certainly want to keep the Circle Program in Pueblo, run by people with good mental health agency credentials.
8 exemplars to guide us into the new year | SONDERMANN
Eric Sondermann
eric-sondermann@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 4 days ago
It started as a one-off in my first year of writing this regular column. To ring in the new year back in the eventful year of 2020, I offered a shoutout to eight Coloradans who served as models of how...
Raids, pushback and TdA indictments defined Denver’s immigration story in 2025
Nico Brambila
nico.brambila@denvergazette.com
Updated 10 hours ago
The Trump administration’s push for a large-scale, deportation effort — built around campaign warnings about Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan prison gang that established a foothold in Colorado — collided with the realities on the ground in Denver, where raids...
Denver’s budget deficit shaped 2025 news coverage
Deborah Grigsby
deborah.smith@denvergazette.com
Updated 9 hours ago
It was a year of big goals on a tight budget for the Mile High City, where Mayor Mike Johnston’s announcement of a $200 million city budget deficit dominated the news coverage. Facing a $50 million gap in its 2025...
Colorado podcaster who has called for political foes to be executed joins GOP primary for governor
Ernest Luning
ernest.luning@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 11 hours ago
Joe Oltmann, the conservative Colorado podcaster who has repeatedly called for Colorado’s top elected officials to be executed and whose uncorroborated claims that the 2020 election was rigged spawned multiple defamation lawsuits, declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination for...
‘The canary in the democracy mine is local journalism’ | Vince Bzdek
Vince Bzdek
vince.bzdek@gazette.com
Updated 16 hours ago
Colorado could do a lot more to save newspapers – and democracy – in rural areas By Vince Bzdek As another new year and another legislative session dawn for Colorado, it’s a good time to ask what the absolute most...
Colorado’s national correspondent recounts violent KKK march in D.C. | A LOOK BACK
Rachael Wright
rachael.wright@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 5 days ago
by Rachael Wright Thirty-Five Years Ago This Week: “I had forgotten about the Ku Klux Klan,” said Ann Downing Schmidt, The Colorado Statesman’s Washington, D.C., correspondent. In a commentary piece published in The Statesman, Schmidt described trying to make the ten-minute drive from...
2025 Unfiltered: Ethics investigations, scandals plague Colorado Capitol
Marianne Goodland
marianne.goodland@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 15 hours ago
Over the course of the year, a series of investigations, allegations and controversies emerged at the state Capitol, drawing scrutiny to the behavior of elected officials and, in some cases, overshadowing policy debates. Here are some of the notable investigations,...
2025 Unfiltered: Top stories of the Colorado General Assembly
Marianne Goodland
marianne.goodland@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 15 hours ago
In 2025, the Colorado legislature faced a budget deficit, sought to tackle a lingering housing crisis and saw a wave of lawmakers leaving for other opportunities, prompting multiple vacancy committees to act. Here are a look at the year’s top...
2025 Unfiltered: Colorado Supreme Court vacancy, surge in federal filings and more
Michael Karlik
michael.karlik@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 14 hours ago
This year was awash in legal news nationally, with federal courts taking an outsize role in responding to executive branch actions. In Colorado, that effect was evident, but it was not the only factor at play. Here are the top...
2025 Unfiltered: Unions, guns and vetoes — inside Colorado’s political year
Marissa Ventrelli
marissa.ventrelli@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 13 hours ago
From affordability and labor rights to gun policy — as well as public safety and gubernatorial vetoes — 2025 proved to be one of the most consequential and contentious years in recent Colorado political history. Lawmakers entered the session pledging...