Author: Doug Fitzgerald

Just give us the darn audit, would ya? The “us” in this case is taxpayers. The “audit” is the one commissioned by the Weld County Council to explore wait times and office morale at the Weld Clerk and Recorder’s Office, as well as to explore accusations of unnecessary spending and treatment of employees by Weld County commissioners.…

After hearing about a plan in which the state of Oregon created a special excise tax for bicycles sold for more than $200, a Colorado lawmaker was quick to chime in, saying the time is ripe for this state to get money from the state’s cyclists. Sen. Ray Scott, a Republican from the Grand Junction…

A baby bird falls from its nest. An elk calf appears to be abandoned by its mother. Life isn’t always easy for any living creature. That can be difficult for humans to accept. We want to fix problems. Yet far too often humans, even with the best of intentions, can make wildlife problems worse. Putting…

Gosh darnit, folks, is it really that hard to buckle up when you get in your vehicle? The Colorado Department of Transportation announced earlier this week another one of its “Click It or Ticket” campaigns, which means local law enforcement agencies are encouraged to increase their presence on the roads to better enforce Colorado’s seat belt…

Social Security is the oldest and most popular federal income support program, and after more than 80 years, it might seem as permanent as the pyramids. But the pharaohs did better long-range engineering than the architects of the New Deal did. A 2015 Gallup Poll found that 64 percent of millennials don’t think the program…

Old routines are hard to break, but losing that addiction to Denver International Airport gets easier by the day. That’s because the nearby, convenient, user-friendly Colorado Springs Airport keeps getting better. As previously told in this space, Frontier Airlines added direct flights this year to five additional cities, including flights that begin Monday to Washington,…

The Outdoor Retailer trade shows and their $45 million annual economic impact are heading to Denver, instantly giving Colorado a brand identity synonymous with playing outside. Outdoor recreation was already a big deal in Colorado – responsible for $28 billion in consumer spending in the state annually – but the move enhances the state’s growing…

On Saturday, residents of Nevada were able to see the spectacle that greeted Coloradans more than two years ago: the rush to partake in newly legalized marijuana and cannabis products. The demand for the product should be a warning sign of things to come – not only for a population that gets normalized to a…

It’s no secret that airline operators aren’t running a charity. While the service they provide is worth the trouble of actually using it, most travelers have at least one or two horror stories under their belt, and this year we’ve seen too many bad examples of rejected and even abused fliers. So keep that in…

There are few issues as polarizing today as the issue of what to do about the estimated 11 million people who live in the United States without authorization. The current administration has made its position very clear; it believes extreme enforcement and mass deportations are the best way to handle this issue. But let us…