Author: Paula Noonan
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U.S. careening off the rails under Trump’s stewardship | Paula Noonan
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Does anyone in Colorado or the United States feel like life is anywhere near normal anymore? Our aberration is not from a pandemic. It’s from our government. It’s at war with us, the people. Let’s take Renée Good’s tragic fate. She dropped off her son at school. She stopped where ICE agents were standing on…
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Lack of accountability in state standardized testing system | NOONAN
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The General Assembly kicks up its heels this month along with the National Western Stock Show. Both should offer some exciting bull rides. Last General Assembly produced one interesting bill on K-12 public education. It’s HB25-1278 on the education accountability system. It offers an opportunity for long awaited solutions to festering problems that affect use…
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Peddling poor pay at Casa Bonita, ‘South Park’ creators a self-satire | NOONAN
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Trey Parker and Matt Stone of the now fabled show “South Park” took on a rebuild of Casa Bonita in Lakewood out of nostalgia for the pink colored restaurant-entertainment center on West Colfax. They also took on Paramount, the media conglomerate, over the “South Park” property, winning a $1.5 billion jackpot for streaming rights and…
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A not-so-merry Christmas season for concerned Commerce City residents | NOONAN
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Happy holidays and keep your eyes and ears open for coming events in 2026 during the election season. As a heads-up, the closer government is to the people, the easier it is for small amounts of money to have big impacts. Take the recent Commerce City City Council election. For just about $175,000, local homebuilders…
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Confining pro-charter conditions destroying Colorado public schools | NOONAN
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Our public school system is injured by a thousand cuts. At year end, our most dear institutions are confronted with a lawsuit over book banning, a lawsuit over termination of a middle-school dean defending books, districts threatening educators with termination, and authorization of a tax grab and land grab by two charter schools in the…
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Underlying design failures built into Colorado’s standardized tests | NOONAN
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Third graders can’t read. That’s a common assertion. How do we know? Colorado’s CMAS standardized tests for third graders tell us. What the chicken littles who bemoan these tests scores, mostly individuals on the “pro school choice” and “voucher” side of the public education debate, don’t explain are the underlying design failures built into the…
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The theatrics of land-use in Douglas County | NOONAN
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If anyone thinks a county commission land-use session lacks theatricality, think again. Just drop into a land-use meeting in Douglas County with its current three commissioners. Citizens attending a Nov. 25 Dougco land-use session were treated to the following actions: a woman was tossed out for holding a sign; a state representative was talked over…
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Giving thanks for the long-overdue Epstein reckoning | NOONAN
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Thanksgiving is the best holiday. No gifts required. Just family and friends around a table enjoying each other’s company, expressing gratitude for the good things in their lives. Some good things arrived recently in the form of the Epstein emails. They revealed names of individuals who engaged in a variety of communications with child sex…
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Commerce City proves a harsh political fighting ground | NOONAN
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It’s a common saying: money talks. Our campaign finance laws allow money to speak loud and clear. In recent municipal elections, the blandly named Metro Housing Coalition, an organization supporting homebuilders and related businesses, sent $146,000 in election campaign dollars to another blandly named entity, Housing for Colorado, an independent expenditure committee (IEC). Independent expenditure…
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The message cost-conscious Coloradans should take from Mamdani’s mayoral win | NOONAN
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So much lately is offered about what the Democratic and Republican parties need to do to win elections. Are Democrats too lefty and Republicans too far on the extreme right? These questions are wrong. The focus should be on what actions can elected officials take to improve prospects for Americans, especially us Coloradans. Baby-boomer Americans…
