US backs off plan for drilling on land where rare bird lives
The Trump administration is canceling plans to sell oil and gas drilling rights on public land in Colorado where an imperiled Western bird lives.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management said Friday it was removing 230 square miles of land from a planned December auction.
Colorado’s top-ranking Democrats, Gov. John Hickenlooper and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, had asked the bureau to reconsider the sale. The land is habitat for the greater sage grouse, which Western states and federal agencies are trying to protect.
The withdrawal leaves about 130 square miles in the December auction, but it wasn’t clear if the government planned to add to that.
The government also pushed the sale back by a week, from Dec. 6 to Dec. 13.
Suddenly, Colorado has a private school choice program │ Vince Bzdek
Vince Bzdek
vince.bzdek@gazette.com
Updated 3 hours ago
By Vince Bzdek When I was a kid going to St. John’s Catholic grade school in Denver, I remember asking my mom if she and dad minded paying taxes for public schools since all her kids attended Catholic ones. We...
Tyson’s beef plant closure in Nebraska to impact town, ranchers nationwide | OUT WEST ROUNDUP
Ernest Luning
ernest.luning@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 4 days ago
NEBRASKA Beef plant’s closure could ripple OMAHA — Tyson Foods’ decision to close a beef plant that employs nearly one third of residents of Lexington, Nebraska, could devastate the small city and undermine the profits of ranchers nationwide. Closing a...
Calendar Dec. 15-21
Rachael Wright
rachael.wright@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 4 days ago
CoPo’s weekly political calendar will help you find political and public-policy events throughout Colorado. It includes candidate and issue campaign events, public policy meetings, court hearings, state and local party conventions, assemblies, debates, rallies, parades, speaking engagements, traveling dignitary appearances,...
Denver Mayor Peña makes unexpected announcement | A LOOK BACK
Rachael Wright
rachael.wright@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 4 days ago
Thirty-Five Years Ago This Week: Denver Mayor Federico Peña announced personal news that caught many of his supporters and Denver residents who paid close attention to politics off guard. Just two weeks prior on Nov. 16, 1990, The Colorado Statesman...
Julie Gonzales’s long but not impossible odds | SONDERMANN
Eric Sondermann
eric-sondermann@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 4 days ago
Allow me to start with a flashback. It was Thanksgiving 2024, just over 12 months back. For the first time, our son Clarke hosted the family Thanksgiving near New York City. It is a sign of our aging when the...
Performers announced for 14th Klezfest | NONPROFIT REGISTER
Thelma Grimes
thelma.grimes@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 2 days ago
MIZEL MUSEUM JCC DENVER Denver News: Klezfest 2025, which takes place Dec. 20, will feature performances by a host of popular Jewish entertainers: Rabbi Joe Black and Steve Brodsky; Hal Aqua & The Lost Tribe; Mishmish and Gora Gora Orkestar. Rabbi Black is a pioneer of contemporary Jewish music and has...
Colorado commission makes new access-to-justice recommendations after renewed listening tour
Michael Karlik
michael.karlik@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 1 day ago
Adding judges to handle caseloads. Expanding authority for paraprofessionals in civil cases. Allowing self-represented litigants to file electronically. Making the judiciary’s website user-friendly. Those were among the recommendations advanced by the Colorado Access to Justice Commission in a report released Friday,...
Trump targets Colorado AI law with executive order, setting stage for legal fight
Marianne Goodland
marianne.goodland@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 2 days ago
Colorado’s 2024 effort to regulate artificial intelligence is facing a direct challenge from the Trump administration. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to block states from enforcing their own AI laws. Trump also announced the creation of...
Colorado residents face high energy bills after regulators turn away from natural gas, experts say
Mark Samuelson Special to The Denver Gazette
mark.samuelson@denvergazette.com
Updated 2 days ago
Colorado residents could be paying a lot more for home energy, following the state’s decision last week to turn away from natural gas as a home cooking and heating fuel, experts said. Some 1.9 million Colorado households warm their homes...
Colorado’s government spending has outpaced inflation, analysis finds
Marissa Ventrelli
marissa.ventrelli@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 2 days ago
Colorado’s per-person spending has increased by 31% over the last two decades despite slowed population growth, according to a new analysis by the Common Sense Institute. The annual report compares state spending by department over the last 20 years, tracking...
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Website that alleges purge of Colo. voters is wrong, says secretary of state
The biggest problem with any election is misinformation, according to the Colorado Secretary of State’s office, which has been dealing with complaints about a website that alleges thousands of state voters have been purged from the voter registration rolls. The website, gregpalast.com, claims to hold lists of purged voter registration information on six states, including […]
National poll: Democrats hold 9-point edge in midterm elections for Congress
By Sean Higgins, Washington Examiner Democrats hold a 9-percentage-point lead over Republicans among likely voters in the latest congressional-preference polling for the 2018 midterm elections, with voting already underway and Election Day approaching fast. A NBC-Wall Street Journal poll‘s generic ballot gives Democrats a 50-41 percent edge over the GOP on the question of who […]