Tipping Point: Colorado River tribes fight for their water rights
Some 10,000 households on the vast Navajo Nation, which covers 27,000 square miles in three states, are still without running water. Native American tribes hold some of the most senior water rights in the Colorado River Basin, but history has shown that having senior water rights and having water are two different realities. The tribes, including the Ute Mountain Utes in southwest Colorado are fighting to gain their rights, in some places successfully, as the basin struggles with an epic megadrought and new federal calls to conserve massive amounts of water next year. (Video by Skyler Ballard & Mary Shinn)
Voters sour on Dems — as Republicans head for the cliff | Dick Wadhams
Dick Wadhams
dick-wadhams@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 2 days ago
By Dick Wadhams The ravages of eight years of total Democratic control of state government and twenty consecutive years of Democratic governors are souring voters on their candidates in 2026 as Colorado continues to decline. Meanwhile, rather than embracing an...
When former friends conclude we are the problem, we have a problem | Miller Hudson
Miller Hudson
miller-hudson@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 1 day ago
April arrived in Colorado this year displaying the Janus-like dual visages that characterize MAGA America. The ecstatic, giddy enthusiasm of the Artemis crew which just circled the moon before returning to a near perfect splashdown off San Diego reminded each...
Colorado lawmakers advance bill to tackle Colorado’s prison capacity issues
Marianne Goodland
marianne.goodland@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 11 hours ago
As lawmakers work to complete the next state budget, they are intensifying efforts to address overcrowding and capacity challenges within the Department of Corrections and related agencies — issues that have contributed to increased spending in the budget. The state...
Colorado’s lawmakers lie on the ballot, again, to take away TABOR | Jon Caldara
Jon Caldara
jon-caldara@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 3 days ago
I know this will shock you, but the system is rigged. Maybe not in the conspiracy-theory, tinfoil-hat way. In the simple, obvious, right-in-front-of-your-face way: politicians get to play by rules you don’t. And every now and then they get so...
Regulators seek public input for massive Montana-Wyoming oil pipeline proposal | OUT WEST ROUNDUP
The Associated Press
the-associated-press@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 7 days ago
WYOMING Massive oil pipeline proposed State and federal officials are seeking public comment on the proposed Bridger Pipeline Expansion project to carry Canadian crude from the border in Phillips County, Montana, to a terminal near Guernsey in Wyoming. The massive...
A happier budget week | Capitol M | Week of April 18, 2026
Marianne Goodland
marianne.goodland@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 4 days ago
It’s budget time at the state Capitol, and generally, it’s a humorless situation. It certainly was that way in the House last week, with a 15-hour reading of the long bill at 661 pages that resulted in lawmakers having to...
Colorado Politics Calendar Apr. 20-26
Rachael Wright, Special to Colorado Politics
rachael.wright@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 4 days ago
CoPo’s weekly political calendar helps 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,...
Mysterious letter causes uproar, investigation in Mesa County GOP | A LOOK BACK
Rachael Wright, Special to Colorado Politics
rachael.wright@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 4 days ago
Twenty Years Ago This Week: An unregistered activist group calling themselves ‘The Colorado Republican Caucus’ mailed letters to at least 160 Republicans in Mesa County calling various Grand Junction Republicans “turncoats” and “traitors.” “The danger was that the letters were...
Hemp beverage bill puts profits over Colorado kids | OPINION
Colorado Politics
colorado-politics@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 2 days ago
By Rachel O’Bryan The hemp THC beverage industry wants to sell its high-inducing drinks in Colorado everywhere that beer or wine is sold — including stores and restaurants near schools. This self-serving bill, Senate Bill 164, would blow Colorado’s regulated...
Colorado justices, lawyers speak with rural students through outreach program
Michael Karlik
michael.karlik@coloradopolitics.com
Updated 2 days ago
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court appeared before students from eight rural schools on Thursday to hear a pair of cases, field questions, and mark the first time the state’s newest justice participated in the long-running program. “I had such...