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Montrose Commissioner Pond: Why I’m Drawing the Line and Standing Against Federal Land Grabs
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Commentary, Local, National, Rocky Mountain Voice, Top Stories

Montrose Commissioner Pond: Why I’m Drawing the Line and Standing Against Federal Land Grabs

By Sean Pond | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The views expressed here are my own and do not represent an official action or position of the Montrose Board of County Commissioners. I was appointed to represent the people of District 3 in Montrose County, and I took an oath to uphold the Constitution. That includes defending our land, our rights, and our way of life here in Western Colorado. In recent months, there’s been a coordinated push to place more of Colorado under federal control. We already fought back against the proposed Dolores National Monument, a 500,000-acre land grab, and we won.  Then came a 68,000 acre National Conservation Area proposal in Mesa and Montrose Counties. We stood our ground again and stopped it.  But now we’re facing two more ...
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Home rule vs. housing order: Colorado Springs challenges Polis directive
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Approved, KRDO.COM, Local

Home rule vs. housing order: Colorado Springs challenges Polis directive

By Mackenzie Stafford | KRDO COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - On Tuesday, the Colorado Springs City Council decided to roll the dice on roughly $20 million in funding, according to the city's estimates. It comes after Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed executive order D 2025 - 005, which includes blanket statewide housing requirements aimed at improving affordability. The city claims that there are a handful of laws in the order that are not right for the Colorado Springs community. The only issue is that, as part of the executive order, not following these laws could put the city under noncompliance, which is a one-way ticket to getting those dollars pulled.At a city hall meeting on Tuesday, councilmembers voted 7 to 2 on a resolution to reaffirm Colorado S...
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Denver crisis grows while solutions stall: Family homelessness up 150% since 2022
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Approved, DENVER7, Local

Denver crisis grows while solutions stall: Family homelessness up 150% since 2022

By Veronica Acosta | Denver7 DENVER — For nearly two years, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston's administration has been working to find solutions to the city's homelessness crisis. According to the 2024 Point-in-Time Count, the number of families living on the street dropped last year. However, data from the Department of Housing Stability (HOST) shows the overall number of families experiencing homelessness has increased by 150% since 2022. During a presentation to the city's Safety, Housing, Education, and Homelessness Committee, Jeff Kositsky, the deputy director for HOST, said the family shelter waitlist increased 78% in the past year. He attributed the increase in families experiencing homelessness to a rise in eviction filings, a growing number of unhoused newcomers,...
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Cargill and BBD show what private-sector solutions to housing really look like
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Approved, Local, Rocky Mountain Voice

Cargill and BBD show what private-sector solutions to housing really look like

RMV Staff | RMV NE CO Newsroom, Rocky Mountain Voice As Colorado’s housing crisis continues to stretch families, employers, and communities thin, a powerful story of unity is rising from the plains of Northeastern Colorado. In Fort Morgan, a strategic partnership between global food giant Cargill and Brush-based contractor Building By Design (BBD) is addressing the problem with practical solutions that turn vision into reality, giving us all confidence in the project's success.  Together, they are not just building homes, they are building a brighter future, a beacon of hope for our community. “It’s a good example of how partnerships like Cargill, BBD, and other local businesses are stepping up to meet a need,” said Dr. Kevin “Doc” Lindell, Mayor of Fort Morgan. “Together, we...
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Bent County declares Second Amendment Sanctuary, defies SB25-003
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denvergazette.com, Local, State

Bent County declares Second Amendment Sanctuary, defies SB25-003

By Marissa Ventrelli | Denver Gazette An eastern Colorado county has passed a resolution declaring itself a “Second Amendment Sanctuary” in opposition to a bill passed by the legislature this year that requires individuals to participate in safety training to be eligible to purchase certain types of firearms. On May 15, the Bent County Board of Commissioners and Bent County Sheriff unanimously passed a resolution declaring that no county resources will be used to enforce provisions of Senate Bill 003 that have not been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. The bill, which was signed into law last month, requires individuals to take a hunting safety course through Colorado Parks and Wildlife to be able to purchase semiautomatic firearms with detachable magazines. Sheriffs’ departments ...
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Denver City Council braces for layoffs, deep cuts—but Mayor Johnston delays details
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Approved, Denverite, Local

Denver City Council braces for layoffs, deep cuts—but Mayor Johnston delays details

By Kyle Harris | Denverite Here’s what Denver City Council members said at their big budget meeting. The Denver City Council met atop Lookout Mountain at Golden’s Boettcher Mansion last week to plan for the 2026 budget. The elected leaders knew they would likely need to make cuts — but nobody knew just how bad the city’s fiscal situation might be. “I’ve been hearing rumors of layoffs and furloughs,” Councilmember Stacie Gilmore said as the all-day meeting began on Friday. The city’s rumor mill is spinning furiously, with some employees fearing budget cuts up to 30 percent, Gilmore said. That would be an extraordinarily high number for an overall budget cut, considering city revenues shrank by 9 percent amid the 2008 financial crisis. Asked for more detail, Gilmore reiterated...
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Denver Council Members say Johnston bond proposal is being rushed to voters
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Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

Denver Council Members say Johnston bond proposal is being rushed to voters

By Deborah Grigsby | Denver Gazette Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s new $800 million bond package is expected to make its way to voters this fall, but some City Council members working to whittle down the wish list of projects said the process is rushed and the bond issue could wait until next year. “I am not okay with the process at all,” District 5 Councilmember Amanda Sawyer told members of the city’s Vibrant Denver Bond working group on Wednesday. “I want to apologize to the staff in Department of Finance, because you guys have been set up for failure and you have been asked for extraordinary work in a very limited amount of time…So I want to make it very clear: you are doing an amazing job.” Sawyer added: “The problems that we are talking about here are not your fault. They are ...
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The Business Times: Public trust demands Grand Junction councilman Jason Nguyen resign now
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Approved, Local, The Business Times

The Business Times: Public trust demands Grand Junction councilman Jason Nguyen resign now

By The Business Times Staff This is the only statement which we can make related to a post from Jason in a private group on Facebook. There is no “context” to be parsed or question to be asked by what he meant with his post. What he thinks about a good percentage of the population of Grand Junction and how he views many businesses cannot be taken in error. The statement made by Jason Nguyen shows he despises and desires the economic ruination of many of the constituents he claims to represent. And if the members of the Grand Junction City Council, especially Jason’s two like-minded cohorts Anna Stout and Scott Beilfuss, don’t denounce his statement above and beyond the meaningless phrase “in the strongest possible terms” and call for his immediate resignation, then they should resign...
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Douglas County commissioners balk at legislation ‘impairing local control’
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Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

Douglas County commissioners balk at legislation ‘impairing local control’

By Noah Festenstein | Denver Gazette Douglas County's commissioners are balking at several proposals at the state Capitol that they said would diminish local control. In a resolution, the commissioners said lawmakers have "repeatedly injected state policies into long-standing matters of local concern, including local elections and land regulation.”  The resolution, which the commissioners approved on April 22, identified four specific proposals surrounding commissioner board vacancies, building codes and permitting: READ THE FULL STORY AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
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Not political theater: Montrose federal intervention request grounded in Constitutional oath
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Approved, National, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Not political theater: Montrose federal intervention request grounded in Constitutional oath

By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice What does it mean to defend the Constitution? Two commissioners say this is what it looks like. On April 16, the Montrose County Board of County Commissioners voted 2–1 to send a formal Request for Federal Intervention to President Donald Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Commissioner Sue Hansen abstained.  The letter, authored by Commissioner Sean Pond and finalized with Chair Scott Mijares’ signature, argues that recent legislation passed by the Colorado General Assembly—particularly SB25-003—violates constitutional rights. The message does not call for military action or oversight. Instead, it asks national leaders to review Colorado laws, advocate for liberty and support rural coun...
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