Colorado Springs is trying to clean up its downtown by banning panhandling and soliciting, but there’s one problem with that plan: The ordinance would violate the First Amendment — at least according to the American Civil Liberties Union. And in the first major ruling on that issue, a federal district…
In the days following the movie theater massacre in July, Representative Ed Perlmutter, whose district then included Aurora, was one of the few local politicians who called for a gun policy change: the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban. He’s been working on that legislation for months, but given the…
Secretary of State Scott Gessler is facing criminal and ethics investigations into his alleged misuse of public dollars. Now, he could face an additional review from the state auditor’s office, with legislators yesterday approving the first step of the process…
Secretary of State Scott Gessler was not at his “election integrity” hearing in Denver yesterday — but his mother was. Barbara Gessler, mom of Colorado’s chief election officer, sat in the front row and waited for her turn to offer public comment which, included a plea for voter ID laws…
This is one way to get politicians’ attention. Yesterday, around 150 activists descended on the offices of Senators Michael Bennet and Mark Udall to urge them to avoid “fiscal cliff” negotiations that protect the wealthy and burden the middle class. Protesters did so in 24 different shifts every twenty minutes,…
Right around the time we reported yesterday about a recount request in Boulder, Ellyn Hilliard, the Republican House candidate who’d asked for one, decided she would not be going forward after all — in part, because it would just be too expensive. The costs, she argues, are an explicit tactic…
In our latest feature, “Bed Check,” we take a close look at the day-to-day challenges homeless women in Denver face when navigating the emergency shelter system. This is just one piece of the available-services puzzle, and the city says it is dedicated to long-term solutions. So what is Denver doing…
The Colorado Secretary of State’s office may have certified election results last week, but that doesn’t mean the battle is over. At least not from the perspective of Republican candidates in Boulder and Pueblo, who are considering pursuing recounts. While the races there weren’t close, supporters argue a recount would…
Secretary of State Scott Gessler is touring the state this week, soliciting feedback from voters on the election. But in the meantime, attorneys for Gessler, who is facing both criminal and ethics investigations into the alleged misuse of public funds, are asking for more time to respond to the complaint…
Colorado spends about $13 million a year to enforce a 2006 state law that requires local cops to report to federal immigration authorities arrestees who they suspect are undocumented immigrants, according to a report by the Colorado Fiscal Institute. Those reported to the feds spend an average of 22 days…
Pre-election news coverage about Secretary of State Scott Gessler often focused on his efforts to weed out non-citizen voters and prevent fraud through an initiative some activists called a wild goose chase. But at an event in Arapahoe County, where Gessler invited public feedback, most took the opposite stance: Election…
In September, Erica Guzman, twenty, and Stefanie Cardwell, 23, spent nights sleeping in their car. The two women, who have been dating for four years, say they had nowhere else to go. The search for shelter is especially difficult for Guzman, an undocumented Canadian immigrant. We spoke to the couple…
On Tuesday, Boulder county commissioners temporarily walked away from a fracking hearing due to a boisterous protest by attending activists. The next day, the officials issued a statement included here that decried the disruption using terms like “mob harassment.” But the director of a youth-oriented environmental organization who attended with…
Yesterday, the Boulder County Clerk’s office announced that its election results are finally certified. However, a spokesman for Secretary of State Scott Gessler says just the opposite — a final decision has not been made yet, although one could come soon. The conflicting statements have further irked those Boulder canvass…
We reported last week that the canvass board in Boulder County, responsible for certifying the results of the election, decided against it, arguing that there were serious flaws in the process. Hillary Hall, Boulder’s clerk and recorder, was not pleased. But when we asked Secretary of State Scott Gessler about…
Restrictions on campaign finance are ultimately violations of free speech rights and do little to foster fair elections. At least that’s the argument of Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler, who, in a speech yesterday, said he would like to see fewer limitations on campaign finance, arguing that reform efforts…
Election day may seem like a fading memory in Colorado. But the divisiveness of the race is alive in Boulder County, where members of the canvass board has refused to certify the results, arguing that there were many problems — including dozens of precincts where they say more votes were…
Colorado’s Secretary of State Scott Gessler maintains that voter fraud is a serious problem — and after launching initiatives to prevent illegal ballots from being cast, his office says that exactly 518 voters were removed from the rolls due to non-citizenship — more than expected. Some may have taken themselves…
In addition to facing criminal and ethics investigations into his alleged misuse of public dollars, Secretary of State Scott Gessler has spent months responding to criticisms that he has intimidated voters with his anti-fraud crusade. And just a week before the race, his staff got a hold of a document,…
There was a lot of talk this election season about access to voting — which is one reason Karen Suhaka, who runs a Denver-based online research company, decided to collect voter-driven data on the performance of polling sites across the country. Her website, MyFairElection.com, cataloged reviews from coast to coast,…
On Monday, we reported that after only two days on WhiteHouse.gov, a Colorado petition to secede from the United States already had more than 3,000 signatures — part of an odd post-election craze that now includes all fifty states. But Obama-haters aren’t the only ones speaking out. WhiteHouse.gov is now…
There’s been a lot of talk this election about how divided our country is — and that was very clear in Colorado, where a roughly even split had two camps bashing each other — sometimes on opposite sides of the street. Taking the divisiveness to a whole new level, voters…
