Tag: Common Sense Institute
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EDITORIAL: More school data to inform Coloradans’ concerns
What ails public education in our state? A lot of things, say Coloradans recently surveyed on the subject — but the upshot is a general sense that our schools are on the wrong track. In fact, most of the 1,000-plus respondents to the statewide survey conducted by respected pollster Magellan Strategies said just that. As…
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EDITORIAL: Retail theft robs all Coloradans
Colorado shoppers are accustomed to it: You’re checking out as another “customer” walks by. With stolen items, they sidestep security personnel and cameras. Business carries on as usual; like a breeze, the shoplifters slip out the automatic sliding doors as you pony up to cover the pass-the-buck prices caused by the very crime you just…
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EDITORIAL: Colorado’s government — employer of last resort?
Colorado’s Common Sense Institute released an eye-opening report on job creation last spring, and it was doubly alarming. It shed light not only on the challenges faced by our state’s employers in putting people to work — but also on how government is growing out of control. According to the institute’s report, Colorado posted a…
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Colorado’s recidivism rate has decreased significantly, but violent crime is up, new analysis claims
Changes to Colorado’s crime policies led to a significant decrease in recidivism in the state’s prisons, but lowering penalties for certain offenses also increased the number of violent crimes, according to a new analysis. In its report “The Reform Paradox: How Reduced Incarceration has Coincided with Rising Crime,” former Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen, along…
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Realness Project teaches exiting inmates ‘the art of being human’ | Vince Bzdek
When Shawna Pierson was incarcerated at La Vista Correctional Facility, she thought she knew everything. “I was at a place where I was kind of indignant. Nobody could really teach me anything. I had it all figured out,” she told me in an interview. She said she was “hurting people, breaking them down and destroying…
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Just average? New economic study marks a drop from previous high marks for Denver area
A recent report tracking the metro Denver area’s economic performance over recent months is warning that the standout grades the area had been posting for almost a decade are now showing signs of slumping. Consumer spending, population increase and job growth — metrics that had given a positive spin to the metro area as it…
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Fewer people — by tens of thousands — are moving to metro Denver, study says
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Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save In 2015, roughly 44,000 people moved to metro Denver. A decade later, that number has dropped to about 13,000. The nearly 70% decrease in net migration between 2015 and 2025 holds ramifications for the region’s economy and offers a worrying insight into its ability to…
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Colorado’s new economic and cultural hot spot? Believe it or not, it’s Greeley
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Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save GREELEY — John Hall couldn’t be certain, but he had a hunch, an intuition, so to speak, as to how things might play out in front of the Greeley City Council on April 15. Sitting behind his desk on a late spring Friday morning, the then…
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Can Colorado better source, produce rare earth minerals? Mining experts weigh in on how
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Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save President Donald Trump’s recent policy directives to cut the cord between China and the U.S. for rare earth minerals triggered by China’s retaliatory cut-off of certain critical minerals put a spotlight on the United State’s near-total dependence on China for minerals, products and materials essential…
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Motorcycle deaths up 60% in Colorado since 2018
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Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Motorcycle fatalities have jumped 60% since 2018, and 2024 was Colorado’s deadliest year ever for motorcyclists, according to a report from the Common Sense Institute. Meanwhile, passenger vehicle deaths decreased by 7% and traffic enforcement has dropped 54%. In 2024, 165 motorcyclists died on Colorado’s…