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Colorado News Miner 133
Evans's grandpa, net tax hikes, AI regs, alcohol, school crimes, climate, vouchers, methane, and more.
by Ari Armstrong, Copyright © 2025
Ari's Recent Columns at Complete Colorado and the Colorado Times Recorder:
• Public media, truth telling, and a general progressive bias (CC)
• Parties Have Largely Switched Sides in Colorado's Abortion Debate (CTR)
• Closing Colorado's budget gap: Start with corporate welfare (CC)
• Tax-funded food benefits can stand some restrictions (CC)
• Colorado's 'influencing a public servant' law needs clarity (CC)
• Netflix battle illustrates trouble with Colorado's sales taxes (CC)
• What's Next—Genital Inspections at Book Stores? (CTR)
• 'The Colorado Story' sparks conflict in Mesa 51 school district (CC)
Republished Work Re. Sheriff Bill Masters:
• Sheriff Bill Masters's Critique of the Drug War
• Drug War Addiction: Notes from the Front Lines of America's #1 Policy Disaster
• The New Prohibition: Voices of Dissent Challenge the Drug War
Woodruff on Evans: I again wanted to call attention to the articles by Chase Woodruff on Rep. Gabe Evans. This is probably the most important reporting in Colorado this year. It turns out that Evans's grandfather was an illegal immigrant, and one accused of some crimes, too. First article: "U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans misrepresented family’s immigration history." Follow-up: "A century later, Rep. Gabe Evans echoes anti-immigrant attitudes his grandfather’s family overcame."
Tax Hikes: I breathed a sigh of relief when the legislative session ended. But, like a zombie, the legislature is back in action. You know how voters are supposed to have to approve all tax hikes? Ha! First I point to the Colorado Sun's absurdly biased headline and subhead (above an article by Jesse Paul and Taylor Dolven): "Democrats are nixing about $150M in tax breaks to address Colorado’s $750M budget hole. They could be doing more. Every dollar of new revenue Democrats in the legislature find means one less dollar out of the state's fiscal reserves or that the governor won’t have to cut from existing programs and services." The Sun often acts as a Democratic PR firm. Anyway, the legislature expects to eliminate an "income tax deduction on wealthy pass-through owners," a tax break for companies with a "regional home office," and the "sales tax vendor rebate," as well as crack down on "corporations [that shield] their revenue from taxation by routing it through other countries." I don't necessarily have a problem with any of these measures if passed to reduce others' taxes proportionately, but of course the Democrats are looking for net tax hikes. Meanwhile, Colorado families that suffer revenue losses have to actually cut their spending.
Legislative AI Cart: Jesse Paul illustrates how the legislature often puts the bill before the reform: "When [Senate Majority Leader Robert] Rodriguez passed Colorado's law regulating artificial intelligence in 2024, it created an uproar over concerns it was too stringent and would stifle technological advances. At the time, he, the governor and the tech industry agreed to work together to make changes ahead of it going into effect." This is not the responsible way to legislate! Anyway, "Colorado lawmakers abandon special session effort to tweak AI law, will push back start date to June 2026," the Sun reports.
Trump on Peters: Absolutely disgusting. Trump is all for "law and order," except, of course, for himself, his supporters, and his goonsquade. Sun: "Donald Trump repeats call for former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters to be released from prison."
Antisemitism: CBS: "Wyoming man accused of making violent threats against Denver Anti-Defamation League office." Meanwhile, the Denver Communists (!) put up a sign at a Denver church (!) saying "Globalize the intifada."
Colorado Drinking: Westword: 58.6% of Coloradans say they've drunk alcohol in the past month, versus 54% nationally. That's down. But "Colorado also outpaces national averages in daily cannabis use, and it has topped the country in cocaine use for two of the last three years."
Green RTD? "RTD uses more energy and emits more greenhouse gases per passenger mile than the average car, and even the average SUV," or so says Ethan Cornell.
High School Counselor Arrested: A Poudre High School guidance counselor allegedly sexually assaulted a student "more than 100 times," 9News reports. Related: An Adams 12 dean of students at Mountain Range High School pleaded guilty to sending a girl nude photos of himself.
SNAP and Healthy Food: There's a program in Colorado to further supplement SNAP beneficiaries specifically when they buy relatively healthy foods.
Do Better DNVR: There's a social-media group that exists to complain about conditions in Denver. See links from Mandy Connell, Vince Bzdek, Shelly Bradbury, and Krista Kafer one and two.
Gross Old Party: Here's the headline: "In private group chat, GOP lawmakers made crude jokes about a Democratic colleague's clothing." Pathetic.
Social Media Warning Labels: Social media companies are suing over a Colorado requirement for warning labels.
Colorado River: Greg Walcher has what strikes me as a sensible proposal: "Distribute the water by the existing percentages—based on the River's actual flow."
Roblox: Denver Post: "Denver family sues Roblox, Meta over alleged grooming, sexual exploitation of teen girl." See also the After Babel report.
Broadband: The obvious free-market position is that broadband companies should be free to offer their services on an open market, and they should be funded by users and voluntary contributions. But the state and federal governments think government needs to subsidize it. Sun: "Amazon and Starlink awarded 50% of Colorado’s underserved broadband locations." Meanwhile, Google is expanding its fiber network without government subsidies.
Amache: Allen Best: "Today, as in 1942, it is common to demonize whole groups of people."
Climate Science Standards: Hey, let's let a bunch of ignorant bureaucrats determine state standards for climate science! There is, by the way, not a single scientist with relevant experience on Colorado's ten-person Board of Education (although Lisa Escárcega holds a masters in psychology and a doctorate in quantitative research methods, and Kathy Plomer holds a masters in public health).
Climate Alarmism: Meanwhile, one CU Boulder student said she found "the climate crisis terrifying." And: "'Summit' trains next generation of Colorado climate alarmists."
Private Vouchers: Jay Stooksberry points out that the "Big Beautiful" federal bill includes the "Education Choice for Children Act," under which "individuals can make tax-deductible donations up to $1,700 to scholarship organizations."
Landfill Methane: Jeff Luse points out some of the problems with Colorado's plan to force landfills to monitor and possibly collect methane gasses. Luse notes the regs could force some of the landfills to close, which could increase pollution by requiring more transport of trash. Here's my question: Isn't the stuff that creates methane going to break down anyway, even if it's in a compost pile?
Wage Controls: Denver Post: "Minimum wage: Front Range businesses, farmers afraid they won't survive 'unsustainable' hikes."
Newsmax: AP: "Newsmax agrees to pay $67M to Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems in defamation case over 2020 election claims."
Youth Violence: A project in Park Hill sought to engage the community to reduce youth violence. But the related study is funded by CDCP and could be cut.
Crime Down: Denver Post: "Homicides and shootings in Denver plunge to a nearly 6-year low."
Black Teen Violence: CPR: "Since 2020, guns have been the leading cause of death for U.S. children and adolescents, surpassing motor vehicle accidents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Teen homicide cases are rising, and Black teens are disproportionately represented in these numbers. . . . [T]he issue is more complicated than stopping kids from obtaining guns."
Racial Incident at Standley Lake High School: Quite the story from Suzie Glassman: "When Sheldon Cooper came home from school in January, he was shaken. A group of white students had delivered a classroom presentation mocking Jim Crow laws, the racist statutes that enforced racial segregation in the South from the 1870s through the 1960s, using memes and videos, including images of people being tied up and beaten." This led to a federal civil rights complaint.
Politics Squashes a McDonald's: Denver Post: "Judge rules Castle Pines can block McDonald’s restaurant development." Let no one pretend that we live in a system of capitalism and property rights.
Youth Suicides Fall: CPR: "Colorado's youth suicide rate falls to lowest point nearly two decades." The number of youth suicides was 87 in 2020 and 39 in 2024.
Oldest Colorado Photo: Jim England of History Colorado (Weekly Digest, August 19) thinks a photo of a Cheyenne village from 1853 is probably the oldest existing photo of the area.
School Shopping: Sun: "Nearly 40% of Colorado public school students, more than 347,000 kids in preschool through high school, are opting to attend a different school than the one assigned to them by their home school district."