Author: The Gazette Editorial Board
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EDITORIAL: Declining enrollment, foundering performance at DPS
Fresh data reveals a steeper decline in Colorado’s public-school enrollment, with over 10,000 fewer students this school year. It’s part of a trend that began during the pandemic, when schools lost 30,000 students and never recovered them. The decline is especially acute in Denver Public Schools. The state’s largest district peaked in 2019 and has…
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EDITORIAL: A stock show for the record books — and a showcase for rural Colorado
The historic National Western Stock Show is the one place the ranchers and farmers who feed the rest of Colorado get to strut their stuff on a statewide stage. It should go without saying they have earned their 16 days in the limelight at the annual Denver event, which concluded last weekend after setting new…
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EDITORIAL: Ag remains a cornerstone, linchpin of Colorado’s economy
How important is agriculture to Colorado’s overall well-being? It accounts for about $47 billion a year of our state’s economy, directly or indirectly employing at least 195,000 people. The livestock sector alone — especially ranchers and their cattle — contributes $9 billion of that total. The tens of thousands of farms and ranches in our…
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EDITORIAL: Let’s face it, wolf reintroduction is a failure
With the news last week Colorado Parks & Wildlife will not release any wolves this winter, it has become clear the state is at a crossroads with its reintroduction program. Which is as good a place as any to reverse course — and admit the program is a failure. Voters were ever-so-slightly in favor of…
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EDITORIAL: A troubling tax hike is back on track
Even after three strikes, advocates for a “progressive” income tax aren’t out. Their proposal to replace Colorado’s 4.4% flat income-tax rate with an array of tax brackets is once again moving ahead toward next November’s ballot after state officials gave it a green light last week. The initiative had been derailed temporarily several times by…
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EDITORIAL: ‘Flock’ cams crucial to Colorado’s crime fight
The wins keep coming, across Colorado, for the cutting-edge law enforcement mechanism that perhaps ranks only behind the determination and discipline of our law officers in the crime fight: license-plate reading surveillance cameras. The Atlanta-based Flock Safety cameras have become an increasingly utilized tool for some of the bigger police departments across the state, from…
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EDITORIAL: Left in the dark, Golden pushes back
When Colorado became a territory in 1862, its first capital was Golden until Denver took over in 1867. Now, Golden is a small but still important city. With its growing reputation as a haven for the high-tech sector, it’s no wonder the city wants to know why Xcel Energy isn’t taking steps other utilities have…
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EDITORIAL: Say it, Governor: Colorado is a sanctuary state
Gov. Jared Polis is at it again, claiming just last week that Colorado isn’t a sanctuary for illegal immigration. Most notably, he contends Colorado law enforcement agencies freely work with federal authorities, including on cases involving illegal immigrants — despite recently enacted state laws to the contrary. It was by his own pen that those…
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EDITORIAL: Drinking, driving don’t mix; not for politicians, either
Last year, 234 people lost their lives in crashes involving an impaired driver on Colorado roadways. Among them was Sen. Faith Winter, a prominent state lawmaker from Westminster, who had more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in her blood when the car she was driving slammed into a truck that had stopped to…
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EDITORIAL: Dispelling illusions about homelessness
A Common Sense Institute report released last week affirms how soft-on-crime and easy-on-drugs policies make homelessness worse in wealthy, high-government-spending states like Colorado. To control for states with larger populations and thus higher homeless numbers, the report analyzed the number of homeless people per capita in each state. It turned out Colorado was top-10 across…