Colorado Pays $1.5 Million to Artist Who Refused to Make Same-Sex Wedding Site After Her SCOTUS Win

Graphic artist Lorie Smith beat Colorado at the Supreme Court when it ruled the Centennial State could not punish her for refusing to make a website for a same-sex wedding, upholding her First Amendment rights.

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Voters Decide Future of Ranked Choice Voting

Voters in Western states and the District of Columbia voted on some form of ranked choice voting or “jungle primaries” that includes ranking the final candidates in the general election.

Voters in Nevada, a battleground state in the presidential race, rejected Question 3, according to Ballotpedia. This was a ballot measure that would have moved the state to a “top five” primary if approved. That means up to five at-large primary candidates would compete in a ranked choice voting general election.

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Blue States Succeed in Stripping Defunct Definitions of Marriage from the Books

Gay Marriage

California and Colorado have successfully stripped definitions of marriage from state law, repealing same-sex marriage bans that have not been in effect for nearly a decade.

Californians are poised to pass Proposition 3, according to the New York Times, guaranteeing a constitutional right to marriage between same-sex couples and striking down Proposition 8, a previous law passed in 2010 banning same-sex marriage in the state. Colorado is poised to pass Amendment J, according to the NYT, striking similar language from the state’s constitution prohibiting the act.

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Colorado Election Officials Find at Least a Dozen Fraudulent Ballots Cast in 2024 Early Voting

Colorado Fake Ballots

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold on Thursday announced that at least a dozen mail ballots have been stolen, filled out, and sent in so far in the 2024 general election.

The blue-leaning state has been sending mail-in ballots to every registered voter for years, and has served as an example for other liberal states during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to NBC News. 

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New York City Residents on Edge as Tren De Aragua Gangsters Terrorize City

New York Coty Mayor Eric Adams with NYPD officers

Tren de Aragua (TdA)-associated gangsters as young as 11-years-old are wreaking havoc on Times Square out of a migrant shelter in New York City, and they’re getting away with it, sources told the New York Post.

Around 20 migrants in the TdA-associated gang called “Los Diablos de la 42” are robbing residents and tourists in New York City neighborhoods while avoiding jail time due to their young age, sources in the New York Police Department (NYPD) told the New York Post Monday. TdA has gained notoriety in the United States after multiple reports emerged this year of their activities in major U.S. cities such as Aurora, Colorado, and El Paso, Texas.

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Venezuelan Gang Tren de Aragua Expands Criminal Network into the U.S.

A notorious Venezuelan gang is extending its tentacles into the U.S. on the back of the Biden-Harris administration’s border crisis, and experts say that immigration authorities have no way of identifying the criminal group’s members before they hit American soil.

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Prosecution’s Key Witness in Trial Against Former Mesa County Clerk Repeatedly Claims He Doesn’t Remember Much

The trial against former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters wrapped up its first week on Friday, featuring testimony by witnesses for the prosecution including IT professional Gerald Wood.

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First Two Prosecution Witnesses in Trial of Former Colorado Elections Clerk Referred Disparagingly to Conservative News Site

The trial against former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters over her efforts combating election fraud began this past week where two witnesses for the prosecution testified all day made disparaging remarks about The Gateway Pundit, a conservative news site.

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Trial of Former Colorado County Clerk Tina Peters for Exposing Election Discrepancies with Voting Machines Starts Next Week

The trial against a former Colorado elections clerk over her efforts combating election fraud is set to begin on Monday.

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ACLU to Spend $25 Million on November Elections, Pro-Abortion Measures

My Body My Choice

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) plans to spend more than $25 million on the November elections and will particularly focus on pro-abortion state constitutional amendments.

This year, the ACLU is spending the largest amount of money it ever has on elections, Deirdre Schifeling, ACLU’s chief political and advocacy officer, told NBC News.

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School Districts Under the Spotlight for How they Handle their Social Media Accounts

Social media app icons

School districts around the country are facing issues with how they handle their social media accounts, and the debate has reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

Denver Public Schools recently reviewed its social media policy that doesn’t allow employees to restrict comments on social media or limit who can see them.

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Supreme Court Unanimously Rules Trump Cannot Be Removed from Colorado Ballot

The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 Monday that former President Donald Trump cannot be removed from Colorado’s 2024 ballot. The Colorado Supreme Court found Trump ineligible for the state’s ballot in December, ruling he was disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

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Supreme Court Rules: Trump Can Remain on Ballot

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that former President Donald Trump can remain on the 2024 presidential ballot in a decision that comes one day before the Colorado Republican primary after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the top Republican contender is ineligible.

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Trans Activists May Have Found a Backdoor to Force Hospitals to Provide Sex-Change Surgeries

Surgery Doctors

A lawsuit filed against a hospital for not providing transgender medical procedures could signal a new approach for LGBTQ activists to try to force medical professionals to affirm gender transitions, legal experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on Feb. 14 on behalf of 18-year-old Caden Kent, a biological female patient identifying as transgender, arguing that the hospital’s policy violated the state’s anti-discrimination law by not providing a sex-change mastectomy. Legal experts who spoke to the DCNF said this argument may come up in more cases as hospitals are penalized for refusing to provide sex-change procedures, and may make it as high as the Supreme Court in time.

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Commentary: The 14th Amendment and the Bill of Rights Require Overturning the Colorado Decision

Trump SCOTUS

There are many reasons why the United States Supreme Court must overturn the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision holding that former President Trump is barred from the presidential ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which purports to prohibit a person who has engaged in “insurrection” from holding office.

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Supreme Court Justices Appear Skeptical of Removal of Trump from Colorado Ballot Under Insurrection Clause

Trump Supreme Court

Supreme Court justices on Thursday appeared skeptical during oral arguments of Colorado plaintiffs’ assertions that former President Donald Trump should be kept off of the state’s ballot for president.

The justices focused on the consequences of allowing Colorado to remove former President Donald Trump during oral arguments on Thursday, pressing the Colorado plaintiffs’ attorney on the issues that could occur across the country. 

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Commentary: Trump’s Ballot Disqualification Case Reaches Supreme Court

In what may turn out to be the most pivotal election case since Bush v. Gore, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a short order on Jan. 5 granting the request by former President Donald Trump asking the court to overturn the Colorado state Supreme Court’s Dec. 19 decision disqualifying him from appearing on the state’s presidential primary ballot. The U.S. Supreme Court moved with unprecedented speed; Trump filed his petition for certiorari on Jan. 3, and the court granted the appeal only two days later.

The case has been put on what, for the Supreme Court, is a “rocket docket.” Trump’s brief and any amicus briefs supporting the former president in Trump v. Anderson have to be filed by Jan. 18; the challengers’ brief and amicus briefs supporting Trump’s removal have to be filed by Jan. 31. Trump’s reply brief is due on Feb. 5, and oral arguments will be held on Feb. 8. 

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Commentary: Biden ‘Saves’ Democracy by Destroying It

Biden Smiling

When faced with the possible return of President Donald Trump, the current agenda of the Democratic Party is summed up simply as “We had to destroy democracy to save it.”

The effort shares a common theme: any means necessary are justified to prevent the people from choosing their own president, given the fear that a majority might vote to elect Donald Trump.

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Republicans Threaten to Remove Biden from 2024 Ballot, Mirroring Efforts to Jettison Trump

Biden Voting

Republicans are calling for President Joe Biden to be removed from the 2024 primary ballot as former President Donald Trump is facing challenges to remove him from ballots in multiple states.

As challenges are brought to disqualify Trump from 2024 GOP primary ballots in more than 30 states for allegedly instigating an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, Republicans are suggesting that Biden should be removed from the ballot in response, but because of the increased volume of illegal immigrants entering the U.S. through the southern border.

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Commentary: Trump Should Love the Colorado Ruling

Trump Colorado Supreme Court

The Colorado Supreme Court, acting as supplicants for the enemies of Donald Trump seeking the most extreme remedy for driving the former president into the ditch, may have just unwittingly gifted the former president a Rocky Mountain high – in the polls. 

This time, four left-wing Colorado justices attempting to kneecap Trump were not even going to wait on due process – the very foundation of law – to effectively declare Trump guilty of insurrection, a crime for which he has not, repeat not, even been charged. After believing their attempts to wipe Trump off the ballot would be a knockout punch, it is the left that is about to get walloped to the canvas with a right hook. 

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Ranchers Suing Colorado, Federal Agencies over Wolf Reintroduction

A pair of trade groups representing Colorado ranchers are suing state and federal wildlife agencies to delay reintroducing gray wolves to the Western Slope. 

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court by the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association and Gunnison County Stockgrowers Association, comes before the state’s deadline to reintroduce gray wolves by the end of this year.  

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Report: Mountain States Among ‘Most Free’ in North America

Mountain states rank among the “most free” in North America, according to a new report from the Fraser Institute.

The Canadian think tank employs 10 variables for its Economic Freedom of North America 2023 reports and scores states based on categories such as government spending, taxes, labor market freedom, legal system and property rights, sound money, and freedom to trade internationally.

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Commentary: Ken Buck Is Wrong About the J6 Defendants

U.S. Representative Ken Buck’s big wet sloppy kiss to Attorney General Merrick Garland last week could not have come at worse time for the Colorado Republican.

Judge Timothy J. Kelly of the federal court in Washington, D.C. was in the process of ordering prison time typically applied to murderers, drug traffickers, and serial child pornographers for five members of the Proud Boys convicted of no serious crime related to January 6. A well-known gun storage company faced backlash for assisting the FBI in yet another armed raid against a January 6 trespasser. And a young man from Utah took his own life just weeks after his arrest on four misdemeanors for his participation in January 6, at least the fourth known suicide of a Capitol protester.

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States with Weaker Marijuana Laws See More Impaired Driving, Report Finds

A new report found that states with less restrictive marijuana policies have higher incidents of residents driving while high.

The Drug Free America Foundation released a new report showing that states that have legalized or weakened restrictions around high-THC marijuana, either for medical or recreational use, saw 32% more marijuana-impaired driving than states that have not adopted the same policies.

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Governments Across America Spend Millions to Put Homeless in Hotels

In states like California, Colorado, Washington and Arizona, cities this summer are spending millions buying hotels and converting them to shelters for the homeless.

In Los Angeles, there is a ballot initiative in 2024 to require hotels to use vacant rooms to house homeless people besides paying customers. The American Hotel & Lodging Association has objected to the proposal.

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Texas Sends First Bus of Illegal Border Crossers to Los Angeles

A bus of foreign nationals who illegally entered Texas and were apprehended and released by the Biden administration were taken to Los Angeles for the first time, Gov. Greg Abbott said. They were dropped off at the Los Angeles Union Station Wednesday evening.

“Texas’ small border towns remain overwhelmed and overrun by the thousands of people illegally crossing into Texas from Mexico because of President Biden’s refusal to secure the border,” Abbott said. “Los Angeles is a major city that migrants seek to go to, particularly now that its city leaders approved its self-declared sanctuary city status. Our border communities are on the frontlines of President Biden’s border crisis, and Texas will continue providing this much-needed relief until he steps up to do his job and secure the border.”

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Drug Manufacturers, CVS, Walgreens Settle Another Opioid Lawsuit with 22 States for $17.3 Billion

Thirteen attorneys general announced settlements with opioid manufacturers Teva and Allergan on Friday, while 18 states settled with CVS and Walgreens for a total of $17.3 billion.

The attorneys general said settlement funds will start flowing into state and local governments by the end of this year and will be used for prevention and treatment of opioid addiction.

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Report: Colorado’s 32 Percent Increase in Crime Due to Changes in Prosecutions, Sentences

The crime rate in Colorado increased 32 percent from 2010 to 2022, a new report from a research group says.

The Common Sense Institute’s report, titled “The Fight Against Crime in Colorado: Policing, Legislation and Incarceration,” found the cost of crime in the state was nearly $30 billion in 2022. The cost of crime in Denver was $4 billion and $2.7 billion in Colorado Springs.

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Advocates Warn of ‘Desperate’ Movement to Undermine the Electoral College

An organization’s efforts to circumvent states’ rights are “getting desperate” as they try new ways to push their interstate compact through state legislatures, two pro-Electoral College advocacy groups told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The National Popular Vote (NPV) is a group initiative to reform the U.S.’ two-step, Electoral College system by ensuring that the candidate with the most popular votes nationwide becomes the president. Now that NPV has enacted its interstate compact in all of the “easy,” bluer states as a standalone bill, it is getting creative to force the law through in swing states like Minnesota, Nevada, Michigan and Maine, Trent England of Save Our States and Jasper Hendricks of Democrats for the Electoral College told the DCNF.

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Supreme Court Declines to Hear Energy Companies’ Appeals to Climate Damage Lawsuits

The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear local governments’ climate damage lawsuits against energy companies on Monday.

The companies, who localities want to hold financially accountable for burning fossil fuels they allege damaged the climate, appealed their cases to the Supreme Court, asking it to weigh in on whether the claims should be heard in state or federal courts. The Court’s decision benefits the environmental activists behind the lawsuits, who prefer the matter to play out in state courts, where judges may be more inclined to rule in their favor, experts previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Colorado Authorities Arrest 19 Year-Old Transgender Suspect for Alleged Attempt to Commit School Shootings

Colorado authorities have arrested a 19-year-old man who identifies as a woman for allegedly planning to shoot up multiple schools in the Colorado Springs area. The 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office filed formal charges Thursday against William Whitworth, who calls himself “Lilly Whitworth,” who allegedly planned to shoot up multiple schools in the Academy School District 20 (ASD20), Fox 21 News reported.

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Florida Set to Receive Part of a Nearly $400 Million Settlement from Google over Location-Tracking Probe

Google agreed to a $391.5 million settlement with 40 states after an investigation found that the tech giant participated in questionable location-tracking practices, state attorneys general announced Monday.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong called it a “historic win for consumers.”

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Democratic Senator’s Wife Counsels ‘Strategic Ways’ to ‘Quietly’ Defund Police Without Backlash

Susan Daggett, an attorney and wife of Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, said in a video obtained by Just the News that there is a way to “quietly” defund police by reallocating funds and she hopes President Biden doesn’t run for reelection in 2024.

Daggett, law professor at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law, was asked if President Biden should run for reelection in the undercover video, released by the media watchdog group Accuracy in Media.

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Congressional Republicans Deploy Election Observers to Watch Tight Races, Investigate Irregularities

Determined to use their oversight authority to ensure election integrity, House Republicans are deploying dozens of trained observers to key races around the country while dispatching letters putting federal and state officials on notice to look for any shenanigans in the midterms.

The effort led by Rep. Rodney Davis, the top Republican on the House Administration Committee, includes investigating how federal agencies are implementing President Joe Biden’s executive order instructing the U.S. government to expand voter registration, along with the training and deployment of House staff as observers under the authority of Congress.

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Democratic Secretaries of State Warn ‘Independent State Legislature Theory’ Would Upend Elections

Thirteen Secretaries of State led by Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold filed an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court in Moore v. Harper, a case that will have the court considering the “independent state legislature” theory.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Moore v. Harper in December, a case brought forth after the Republican-controlled North Carolina Legislature adopted a new congressional voting map based on 2020 Census results. A group of Democratic voters and nonprofit organizations alleged the map was a partisan gerrymander that violated the state constitution and challenged it in court, according to Ballotpedia.

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30 Months into the COVID-19 Pandemic, at Least a Dozen States Are Under ‘Emergency’ Orders

In October 2020, the Michigan Supreme Court stripped Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of the unilateral powers she was using when she declared a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whitmer had been using a 1945 law – which was prompted by a three-day race riot in Detroit three years earlier – that had no sunset provision in it and didn’t require approval by the state legislature.

In May 2021, Whitmer told a news agency that if she still had that 1945 state-of-emergency law, she would use those powers, but not for anything related to a pandemic.

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States Take a Stand on Value of Human Life: Oklahoma Protects Unborn Babies from Abortion, Colorado Dismisses Their Humanity

In just the span of about a week, legislation concerning ending the lives of unborn babies in two states starkly reveals that while many state lawmakers are standing up to protect human life, some appear to be underscoring the extremity with which they are prepared to go to dismiss it.

The states continue to take their respective stands in advance of the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, now awaiting a decision at the U.S. Supreme Court. The case is considered to present the most significant challenge to the Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973.

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Republicans Take Aim at Colorado’s 7th Congressional District Seat

Republicans are targeting Colorado’s Seventh Congressional district seat for GOP takeover.

The National Republican Congressional Committee announced that they are targeting CO-7. The NRCC’s job is to win as many seats as possible in November in the effort to attain a Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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Two Key Senate Races Moved in GOP’s Direction by Noted Election Handicapper Cook Political Report

Richard Burr and Michael Bennet

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report on Friday shifted its forecasts for two 2022 Senate races in the direction of Republicans.

The report moved the North Carolina Senate race to replace retiring GOP Sen. Richard Burr moved from “toss-up” to “likely Republican.” And moved the Colorado Senate race, in which Democrat Sen. Michael Bennet is seeking a third term, from “solid Democrat” into the “likely Democrat” catagory.

The North Carolina GOP primary is now a competitive race between former President Trump-endorsed Rep. Ted Budd, former Gov. Pat McCrory and former Rep. Mark Walker, with (with Budd and McCrory currently deadlocked).

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Colorado Considers Dropping the Term ‘Sex Offender’ Because of ‘Negative Effects’

Seminar of "inappropriate sexual fantasy for sexual offenders"

Colorado officials are set to vote Friday on whether to drop the term “sex offender” to describe people who engaged in “sexually abusive behavior,” due to “negative effects,” the Denver Post reported.

“I think the biggest thing is research really shows us that assigning a label has the potential for negative effects in rehabilitation,” said Kimberly Kline, chair of the Sex Offender Management Board (SOMB), according to the Denver Post. The board is considering a number of other possible terms for offending individuals, including adults “who commit sexual offenses” and “who engage in sexually abusive behavior.”

“The term ‘sex offender’ will continue to be used in Colorado statute and the criminal justice system, including courts, law enforcement and the Colorado Sex Offender Registry,” a SOMB spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The change being considered is limited in scope and applies only to the language used in the standards and guidelines for treatment providers who assess, evaluate and treat people convicted of sexual offenses.”

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