Author: News Division

(Complete Colorado Page Two)

Never mind your guns, some Denver City Councilmembers are coming for your gas stations.

The Denver Post reports that, concerned by an alleged “sudden proliferation of gas stations,” Councilmembers Amanda Sawyer and Paul Kashmann, among others, have decided that gas stations – apparently uniquely among Denver’s many retail businesses – are taking too much space away from other priorities such as housing.  In response to this deadly threat to housing density, they are close to proposing a zoning change precluding new gas stations from being built inside a quarter-mile buffer zone around existing stations.

It would also preclude gas stations around light-rail stations.  The reason given is that they’d prefer housing be built there, but I think they just don’t want the competition.

What sudden proliferation?

This isn’t the first time the anti-car central planners have sideswiped the city’s drivers.  The transit-and-density powers that be, having manifestly failed to persuade people to abandon their cars – as they have failed nearly everywhere – have a history of attacking car infrastructure instead.  Back in 2020, Denver’s Regional Transportation District (RTD) took advantage of the pandemic to argue that parking spaces were wasted space where housing could go.

Figure 1: Retail stations currently in use
(Click to enlarge)

How large is this “sudden proliferation?”  According to a council staff report, it amounts to 10 new stations in the city,

 » Read More

(Colorado Peak Politics)

Democrats are throwing good money after bad by investing $750,000 in Trisha Calvarese, the sacrificial lamb their party nominated to take on U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert in the solid conservative 4th Congressional District.

We only have Calvarese’s word for the massive influx of money, as the reporting period hasn’t yet ended.

But it’s likely the reported “32,000 contributions from 24,000 unique donors for an average donation of $23” was funneled through a PAC like ActBlue.

In other words, it came from grassroot Dems outside of Colorado who know nothing about the race but are easily triggered (BOEBERT!) into parting with their money.

In the special election to replace sudden retiree Ken Buck, the winner and now Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Lopez whipped Calvarese by 24 percentage points.

This serves as yet another good example of why Democrats can’t be trusted with money.

 » Read More

(Colorado Peak Politics)

A federal alert from Homeland Security warns the violent Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, has given the ‘green light’ to attack and open fire on Denver law enforcement officers.

A Homeland Security alert obtained by the New York Post says the intelligence was reported to the feds from law enforcement in Albuquerque citing credible human sourcing.

“The Albuquerque New Mexico Police Department (APD) has released this officer safety bulletin to notify law enforcement of information regarding the Tren De Aragua criminal organization and reports that TDA members in Denver have been given a “green light” to fire on or attack law enforcement,” said the New Mexico alert.

The gang has been linked to human trafficking of immigrant females, contract killings, kidnappings, smuggling and organized retail theft.

It’s unclear whether the warning came before or after neighboring Aurora officers dealt with a massive pop-up party of 4,000 Venezuelans who gathered Sunday as the country’s disappointing presidential elections results were made known.

The Denver Police told The Gazette they are now aware of the warnings, while Aurora officials said they are “aware of criminal activity at properties where there is a high concentration of residents who are Venezuelan migrants.”

More than 10 million people have tried to cross the border during the Biden/Harris administration, including 800,000 Venezuelans.

Denver is one of the major U.S. cities reporting the highest number of migrants from the troubled country that’s ruled by a socialist president.

 » Read More

(Complete Colorado Page Two)

In a flailing attempt to hold onto their power, Colorado GOP officers are wielding Democrat lawfare tactics to shut up the rebel Republicans who want them deposed. State GOP Chairman Dave Williams misrepresented Party rules to a judge to obtain a last-minute temporary restraining order (TRO) scuttling a perfectly legal meeting of the State Central Committee (SCC) planned for July 27 for a vote to oust him as state chair.

Williams’ suit named El Paso County GOP Vice Chair Todd Watkins and Jefferson County GOP Chair Nancy Pallozzi, his critics who organized the meeting and reportedly had over 250 SCC members coming. Watkins and Pallozzi strictly observed the Party bylaws in calling the meeting, yet Williams convinced the judge to declare it illegal. The rebel forces are appealing; a reckoning is coming.

Sparking a rebellion

The revolt against Williams, his Vice-Chair Hope Scheppelfield and Secretary Anna Ferguson has been simmering ever since Williams, without permission from the 25-member Executive Committee, spent $60,000 or more of Party money on costly pre-primary ad mailers promoting himself as a congressional candidate and attacking his main primary opponent, Jeff Crank, in Congressional District 5 – the Colorado Springs area.

Williams knows that whoever wins the primary in the very Republican CD5 will very likely win the general election. Printing the “Paid for by the Colorado Republican Committee” line on his ad mailers gave Williams Republican voter credibility over the other candidates by implying the Party endorsement,

 » Read More

(Complete Colorado Page Two)

DENVER–  Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s office on Wednesday announced that a citizen-initiated measure to outlaw the hunting of mountain lions, along with lynx and bobcat, will appear on the statewide ballot as part of Colorado’s November 5, 2024 general election.

A random sampling of the over 187, 000 signatures submitted by proponents projected a validity rate of more than 110 percent of the number required to qualify for the ballot, according to a July 31 media release, thus precluding the work of validating each individual signature.  The current signature requirement for statewide initiatives is 124, 238.

Currently numbered as Initiative 91, the ballot measure purports to ban the practice of “trophy hunting,” which generally means killing an animal for sport and not for consumption or harvest. However, the initiative goes on to broadly define trophy hunting as “intentional killing, wounding, pursuing or entrapping of a mountain lion, bobcat or lynx,” which in practice means a ban on hunting the animals entirely, according to Dan Gates from Coloradans for Responsible wildlife Management, a pro-hunting group that opposes the measure.

“They say they want to curtail trophy hunting, but the definition in the petition says ‘intentional killing,’” Gates previously said. “All of hunting is intentional killing. If they are going to classify that hunting as intentional killing, how can they not be for getting rid of all forms of hunting?”

In Colorado,

 » Read More

(Colorado Peak Politics)

Gov. Polis’s gray wolf dealer has bailed on Colorado and cancelled their deal to provide 10-15 animals to release on the Western Slope this year.

More than a dozen Indian tribes that make up the Colville Reservation in Washington state canceled the deal because of the impact these wolves might have on fellow tribes in Colorado and surrounding states.

From the letter to Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis, reported by The Gazette:

“It has come to our attention that necessary and meaningful consultation was not completed with the potentially impacted tribes. Out of respect for the sovereignty, cultures, and memberships of Indian Tribes in Colorado and neighboring states, who may be impacted by this project, the Colville Tribes cannot assist with this project at this time.”

The parks and wildlife director pledged to find a new dealer but did not indicate whether the abrupt cancelation will affect the state’s plan to drop even more apex predators on ranchers and rural communities for this year.

The state initially promised not to introduce any wolves with a history of killing livestock, and yet that’s exactly what happened when five wolves from Oregon with depredation issues were released by Polis in December then later killed a cow and a calf.

Just this week, the state confirmed that eight sheep were killed by wolves in Grand County.

Sky-Hi News reports it was the14th wolf depredation incident confirmed in Colorado since reintroduction.

 » Read More

(Colorado Peak Politics)

The difference between Venezuelan and U.S. voters; when the South Americans threaten to leave their country if a presidential candidate they oppose is elected, they act on it.

More than seven million Venezuelans have high-tailed it out of their homeland since socialist President Nicolás Maduro was installed more than a decade ago, with an estimated half million migrating to the U.S. through legal and illegal means.

So it was with some gusto that 4,000 Venezuelans held the largest election watch party, ever, along Havana Street in Aurora, overflowing a nearby shopping center parking lot.

Police monitored the mass gathering that disrupted businesses and prompted stores to close early, while social media lit up like a Christmas tree with reports of shots fired and numerous other complaints.

9News covered the massive pop-up party by mocking elected officials who expressed concerns and shared criticisms about the disruptions and the mess it caused.

Kyle Clark and Marshall Zelinger, self-appointed judge and jury, concluded that allegations of anything amiss were not valid unless they were provided video proof.

And how dare Mayor Coffman ask for an apology, the duo huffed.

And yet, the number one news publication for Hispanics in Colorado has called on Aurora officials to find and punish the instigators of the mass gathering.

Jesús Sánchez Meleán, the editor of El Comerio de Colorado,

 » Read More

(Colorado Peak Politics)

One of the legendary political prognosticators of the Washington Beltway is shaking up key congressional races in Colorado with two major rating changes that bode well for Republicans.

Larry Sabato of the Center for Politics has shifted Democrat U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo’s reelection bid in the new 8th Congressional District from “Leans Democrat” to “Toss-up.”

And on the Western Slope where Republican nominee Jeff Hurd is taking on Aspen liberal Adam Frisch for the 3rd district seat, the ranking moves squarely to GOP territory as a likely Republican win.

“Yadira Caraveo has voted against her district over and over again, and now it’s come back to bite her,” said Delanie Bomar, spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee. Coloradans are sick of the migrant and fentanyl crises and sky-high inflation, showing a big opening for Gabe Evans to flip this seat red in November.”

Sabato says Republicans are bullish about flipping the 8th district seat for Evans but that he will need outside help from Republican funders as Caraveo is rolling in the dough.

From the report:

It seems to rank as a better GOP target than many of the other seats in our Leans Democratic column. The district voted for Biden in 2020 by about 4.5 points, roughly matching his national margin, but it backed Trump by a couple of points in 2016 and was bluer for president in 2008 and 2012 than it was in 2020.

 » Read More

(Complete Colorado Page Two)

Maybe you disagree, but I think competition and innovation are good things because, though they cause disruptions, consumers win.

The Colorado legislature strongly disagrees. If there were an award for sabotaging financial innovation and harming consumers, they’d be giving an acceptance speech right now.

Please don’t let the coming bureaucratic jargon scare you off. It starts with the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act (DIDMCA). Enacted in 1980, this federal law allows state-chartered banks to offer interest rates to folks in other states based on the laws in their home state. It’s a neat way to keep the financial market competitive and prevent states from turning into financial backwaters

But Colorado, in its infinite wisdom, is trying to opt out of this federal, pro-competition law with House Bill 23-1229.

For people living in Colorado, it basically means no marketplace for loans that cross state lines.

HB 1229 built a Great Wall of China around Colorado’s financial services sector to keep Mongol out-of-state banks away. That’s peachy protectionism for the banks that now don’t have to worry about competitors. Not so great for, well, humans. We humans like choices, even humans who are poor.

Like so many restrictions from our state’s leftist leaders, the concept of “pro-choice” is only meant for your body, not your wallet.

HB 1229 aims to cap interest rates charged by out-of-state banks, effectively kicking them out of Colorado while labeling it as a consumer protection.

 » Read More

(Colorado Peak Politics)

House Democrats would have us believe they’re feeling bipartisan since the near assassination of former President Trump and are as determined as Republicans to find answers.

That’s why they voted in favor of a bipartisan task force to investigate what the FBI now describes as a domestic terrorist attack and get some answers.

But which answers are Democrats seeking, is what we’d like to know.

It’s not just that we’re cynical — because we are — or conspiratorial.

But naming Colorado U.S. Rep. Jason Crow as the ranking Democrat on this so-called “bipartisan” panel?

The choice in this election couldn’t be more clear.

Harris: the future vs Trump: the past

Harris: the prosecutor vs Trump: the felon

Harris: the unifier vs Trump: the divider pic.twitter.com/J2w4SPOnfQ

— Jason Crow (@JasonCrowCO) July 25, 2024

Has Washington and the media already forgotten that Crow is one of the leading torch bearers in the Democrat Party’s numerous and sundry witch trials against Trump?

We haven’t.

PeakNation™ will recall Crow was one of the House impeachment prosecutors against Trump in 2020.

Crow was part of a group of Democratic House members who co-authored an opinion article in September that triggered the impeachment inquiry. The first-term lawmakers, who share military and national security backgrounds, called on Congress to determine whether Trump had withheld military aid to Ukraine to encourage an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden,

 » Read More