Politics & Government

Charges against Cynthia Dawn Russell and Elizabeth Moseley in relation to an ADAPT protest of Senator Cory Gardner in January have been dismissed. This decision, which came down on the same day that cases against five Democratic Socialists of America members who demonstrated against the senator at a July sit-in were also tossed, helps explain why Gardner recently relocated his offices from the Chase Bank building, a commercial enterprise, to a federal building.

Mayor Hancock and Denver City Council are considering different approaches to limiting Denver’s cooperation with ICE, but some immigrant advocates like attorney Hans Meyer believe that neither goes far enough.

While the Trump administration has a new proposal that would crack down on legal immigration, a Denver City Council committee approved a proposal that would give undocumented residents more protection from ICE. Meanwhile, Mayor Michael Hancock is drafting his own executive order regarding immigration. Our readers weigh in.

In a little over a month, three quarters of a million people like Denver’s LaLo Montoya, an undocumented resident, may be thrown back into the shadows if the Trump administration aggressively expands deportations.

On Wednesday, August 2, members of a City Council committee overwhelmingly approved legislation that would prevent local authorities from cooperating with some of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s efforts to identify and/or deport undocumented residents in Denver. In a public hearing packed with activists, the Safety, Housing, Education and Homelessness Committee voted five to one to approve the bill, which will head to the full City Council later this month.

What’s it like to be summoned to the White House? For Rick Enstrom, a longtime figure in Colorado Republican politics, an invitation to attend an August 1 forum about small businesses like Enstrom Candies, the longtime Colorado enterprise he helps run, was an opportunity to get another angle on the administration of President Donald Trump — one that doesn’t have anything to do with investigations into possible collusion with Russia or the other assorted controversies that have dominated coverage by most major media outlets other than Fox News, which caught Enstrom on camera at the event.

Sen. Cory Gardner has a plan to put the party back in the Grand Old Party. Gardner is headed for Disney World — with an entourage of donors, lobbyists, PAC contributors, and very special friends in tow.

Latham is embarking on a road trip across the U.S. finding and collecting stories of human kindness, especially stories of people making beautiful decisions after experiencing adversity.

Gabriel McArthur is no longer running for Congress, but the 25-year-old former Bernie Sanders delegate is now running for Colorado Secretary of State after dropping out of the 6th district Congressional race to make way for fellow progressive candidate Levi Tillemann.

A hotline callers can use to report ICE raids, subsequently dispatching a team of “confirmers” to the scene, has identified five across Colorado, as Chris Walker told us in a recent story. But trolls and calls of fake reports have plagued the hotline since its inception. Our readers phoned in their own opinions of the hotline.

Cory Gardner’s time in the shadows is officially over. On Tuesday, the junior Republican senator from Colorado voted to proceed in the Republicans’ ongoing efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Peter Smith, a Democratic candidate for state Senate District 32, vowed this week to fight for something that no other candidates in the state senate race have on their platforms: long-term protection for residents effected by the infamous I-70 expansion project in north Denver.

In a series of morning tweets, President Trump announced the U.S. would no longer allow transgender individuals like Castle Rock’s Emma Shinn to serve in the military.

On Tuesday, the Colorado Rapid Response Network confirmed five ICE raids throughout Colorado, that occurred on Monday and Tuesday, July 24 and 25.

Colorado Common Cause, a Denver-based advocacy group, is shedding light on the political influence that ALEC has had on Colorado lawmakers.

Rocker and gun lover Ted Nugent has waded into the 2018 race for Colorado governor, Facebook-posting an endorsement of 18th Judicial District DA George Brauchler, who’s best known nationally for having prosecuted the Aurora theater shooting case. As the Nuge sang on the 1977 hard-rock classic album Cat Scratch Fever, “Wang dang sweet poontang!”

It’s just over a month before the 2017 edition of Denver Go Topless Day, which is scheduled for August 26. But in the run-up to that event, Fort Collins continues to fight a temporary restraining order issued earlier this year against the enforcement of a public-indecency ordinance that includes the words “the breast or breasts of a female,” despite a statement from the ruling judge that he would likely rule against the community on constitutional grounds. This stance exasperates co-plaintiff Brit Hoagland, who continues to follow the case even after leaving FoCo, as well as regular criticism by residents and officials opposed to topless equality.

Kent Thiry, the CEO of Denver-based kidney dialysis giant DaVita, who was recently satirized in brutal fashion on an episode of HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, has opted out of running for Colorado governor in 2018. But while this development removes one well-heeled potential guv hopeful from the equation, the amount of money expected to be spent by current competitors and those still flirting with candidacy will likely be record-setting.

On January 20, as supporters and protesters alike gathered inside the National Mall and along a parade route in Washington, D.C., for Donald Trump’s inauguration, a different kind of protest was gathering about ten blocks north, in Logan Circle.

This week, Wheelchair Sports Camp MC Kalyn Heffernan and nine other members of the advocacy organization ADAPT pleaded not guilty to trespassing and other charges related to a three-day sit-in at the office of Senator Cory Gardner on June 29. And next week, several of the activists, many of whom have disabilities, are scheduled to be back in court regarding another matter. On Monday, July 24, the first of those cited for a previous protest targeting Gardner will go on trial, and there’s definitely crossover between the two groups.

Tay Anderson is 19 years old, and is the youngest person to ever run for a Denver School Board position. But five years ago, things looked very different.

Gerrymandering, or the drawing of political voting maps to benefit a political party, is getting major national attention because of its perceived impact on legislatures that are skewed heavily toward one party.