current news
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Tate takes Balmer’s seat, vacancy attracts crowd
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Former Colorado Republican Party Chairman Ryan Call is among at least 10 candidates who could be vying to replace state Rep. Jack Tate after the Centennial lawmaker was appointed to fill a vacancy in the state Senate on Saturday. Tate will take over on Dec. 31 for state Sen. David Balmer, R-Centennial, who is retiring…
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Nicolais: Merry Kwanukah! The holiday season legal conundrum
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When Thanksgiving gives way to December, frantic shopping expeditions, decorative lights, relatives at airports, office parties and an extra 10 pounds due to gift baskets and cookies, the legal community often looks back fondly to the gift that never stops giving: debate over the place for religion in the public square. On one side is…
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Feldman: Is the state Independent Ethics Commission working the way Colorado voters intended?
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From its creation in 2006, inadequate resources and a lack of support from Colorado state government have hampered the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission. The largest issue affecting the IEC’s effectiveness, however, has been the commission itself, and its own rules, regulations and processes. This has been particularly true in three key areas: the prosecution of…
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Salazar ready to bring fight over drilling back to the Capitol
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State Rep. Joe Salazar, D-Thornton, plans to introduce a bill in the upcoming legislative session that would force oil and gas companies to compensate residents for any loss in property value tied to drilling activities, including damage done by earthquakes linked to deep-earth wastewater injection wells. But state Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, has vowed to…
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Sloan: From Paris talks to ISIS and fracking bans, energy dominates politics
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It seems fitting, as most Coloradans shiver under the first major winter storm of the season, to talk energy policy. A lot has been going on along that front. The Paris climate talks have just wrapped up, and the best thing to say about them is that they accomplished precisely nothing despite exuberant self-congratulation among…
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Proposal to change how district maps are drawn met with sharp criticism
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A high-profile bipartisan group of former lawmakers and state officials are reworking and resubmitting a ballot initiative that would transform the process through which voting districts are drawn in Colorado. The news comes after the project was unveiled last month with a splash, drawing approval from newspaper editorial boards but sharp criticism on the left…
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Panel dismisses ethics complaint against Polis for gaming, fashion promotions
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The House Ethics Committee on Monday dismissed a complaint that U.S. Rep. Jared Polis last year used public resources to act as fleeting pitchman for a video game company and for a Boulder-based men’s clothing designer. “I’m glad the ethics committee promptly and unanimously dismissed this matter and found no violation,” Polis said in a…
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Peña announcement throws open floodgate to candidates
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Fifteen Years Ago this week in The Colorado Statesman … Father John Beno, a former Democratic state senator from Pueblo, died at age 69 and was remembered as a bigger-than life curmudgeon with one of the best senses of humor ever to reside at the state Capitol. The priest headed up the Pueblo County Democratic…
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Liberty lovers at annual holiday party cheer founding principles, lament 2016 presidential politics
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The attendees at this year’s Leadership Program of the Rockies holiday party on Thursday at the Wellshire Event Center in Denver smiled and laughed and expounded readily on the philosophical and practical genius that launched the American republic. They also let out comic groans about the present state of national electoral politics generally and the…
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Religious, community leaders organize prayer vigil for Planned Parenthood shooting
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COLORADO SPRINGS — Several religious and faith-based organizations gathered Sunday at the Colorado Springs Christian School to pray for the victims, witnesses, first responders and Colorado Springs community in the shadow of the Nov. 27 Planned Parenthood shooting. “This was a time just to come together,” said Colorado Family Action policy director Sarah Zagorski. “This…
