Coloradans have a lot of sugar plums dancing in their heads this holiday season. Santa Claus metaphors are particularly apt when it comes to three blockbuster deals that could greatly alter the economic landscape of the state — and the Western Slope — for decades to come. Why? Because there's nothing Coloradans can really do to make them happen. They're things to be decided by a corporation, a federal agency and Congress. It's just a waiting game — much like a child going to bed on Christmas Ev... Read more

Democrats Ed Perlmutter and Jared Polis have joined their Republican congressional colleagues in backing legislation that would allow the Bureau of Land Management to relocate it headquarters to the West, and possibly to Colorado. The U.S. House members of Arvada and Boulder, respectively, have signed on as co-sponsors of a bill from U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, encouraging the relocation of BLM’s central operations from Washington, D.C., to the region of the country where it mainly operate... Read more

Two Front Range Democrats have thrown support behind legislation that would move the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management to a Western state — and ultimately in Grand Junction. U.S. Reps. Ed Perlmutter of Arvada and Jared Polis of Boulder signed on as cosponsors of the bill by Rep. Scott Tipton, a Cortez Republican, that would require the BLM to move its offices to one of the states in which it manages vast swaths of land. "Relocating BLM headquarters to the West would be a natural fit... Read more

Dec. 12--Disabled activists were outside U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton's office Monday -- not to picket but to thank the 3rd District Republican for co-sponsoring legislation that would help guarantee their access to home-care services. Tipton is one of 70 Republican and Democratic House members who are supporting the Disability Integration Act that is being offered by Wisconsin Republican Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner. Kristen Castor, a Pueblo advocate for the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, said disabl... Read more

Northglenn High School student John Hiatt won the 2017 Congressional App Challenge for Colorado’s 7th Congressional District with a program he wrote to help visually impaired users access a popular, low-cost computer platform, U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter announced. Students in 190 congressional district in 42 states demonstrated their coding skills with more than 1,250 apps submitted to the competition this year, organizers said. Participation in the third annual challenge, sponsored by the Congress... Read more

U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman on Tuesday became the first Republican to urge regulators to delay a vote on net neutrality, which would repeal open internet rules adopted two years ago. In a letter to Ajit V. Pai, the Federal Communications Commission chairman who proposed the rollback, Coffman said that altering the rules “may well have significant unanticipated negative consequences.” He asked Pai to let Congress hold hearings on the issue and pass open internet laws. “As you stated in your dissent to... Read more

Three Western Democrats have joined fifteen Republicans in co-sponsoring a House bill that would move the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management out of Washington, D.C. to one of twelve Western states. The bill calls for shifting the Department of the Interior agency to one of the following states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, or Wyoming. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) signed onto Rep. Scott Tipton’s (R-Colo.) bill in J... Read more

The House of Representatives has voted to allow gun owners to carry concealed weapons between states, accomplishing a decades-long firearms lobby goal. The Republican-controlled chamber passed the bill by 231-198, in their first major gun legislation since a 2012 Connecticut school massacre. Republicans said the bill would allow gun owners to travel without having to worry about conflicting state laws. The measure will need a handful of Democrats' support to pass the Senate. To make the Conceale... Read more

Editor's Note: This story was updated 12/7 to correct the year when medical marijuana dispensaries opened in Hawaii (it was 2017), and 12/6 to clarify comments made by Brian Smith, who said that many marijuana businesses were reluctant to open bank accounts because they were hesitant to enter a highly regulated system. State and local officials in places that recently legalized marijuana are bracing for the arrival of a sector that largely runs on cash. They’re anxiously envisioning burglars tar... Read more

DENVER – The U.S. House of Representatives voted 231-198 Wednesday to pass a bill that would allow people with concealed carry permits to carry their weapons into other states where concealed weapons are allowed—though Republican Rep. Ken Buck voted against the measure. Buck, who cosponsored the bill in January that changed before Wednesday's vote, was one of 14 Republicans who voted against the measure, the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017. He was targeted in NRA emails earlier this week... Read more