Corner-locked public lands in Colorado. A lawsuit over the election? No, it's not Republicans. Wild, wild horses.
Do you know what corner-locked public lands are?
If you're like me, you don't.
I've posted in the past about our state's public lands. It was land (mostly) given to the state by the Feds when we went territory --> state. Our state frequently leases out these lands for recreation, ranching, and other uses.
Our own Governor Polis likes leasing some state lands so much, that he encourages the land use board to lease some things twice!
Corner-locked public lands are parcels of public land that only touch on the corners (with the surrounding parcels being private land. I attached a screenshot from a the Sun article linked second below. The picture shows some corner locked public land (yellow with red stripe) amid a bunch of public land (yellow) and private (uncolored).
Clearly those orphaned public sections are not readily accessible without either trespassing on someone else's land or carefully nipping across the corners.
And therein lies the problem. There are some legal subtleties to trying to go corner to corner that still make it such that you might be trespassing on private land. I'll leave it to you to read up in more detail in the two links below, but suffice it to say that the law is not settled and the ambiguity is causing some heartburn/legal issues for hunters and other recreation enthusiasts. Not much fuss here in Colorado (yet), but a big one up in Wyoming.
A Colorado state representative put forth a bill to clarify some of the legal issues. I linked it third below. When I checked on the bill, it died in the Senate on the second to last day of the term.
I think having some clarity on the issue would be a good thing and hope that the bill gets re-presented next term. If you're a hunter and especially passionate about this issue, an email or call encouraging the sponsor(s) tlo try again might be a good idea.
https://www.5280.com/can-you-access-colorados-corner-locked-public-lands/
https://coloradosun.com/2023/02/22/corner-crossing-colorado-legislation/
http://leg.colorado.gov/legislators/brandi-bradley
A lawsuit over mail-in ballots here in Colorado. And no, before you even think it, it's not Republicans or conservatives.
This mail-in ballot lawsuit alleges that the Secretary of State is too harsh in their rejection of ballots from the last election. I.e. that the signature-matching process incorrectly tossed valid ballots. Of course, it's also alleged that this happens more to minority voters.
The Secretary of State (rightly in my view--one of a few correct decisions to come out of that office) is fighting the suit and tried to get it dismissed early claiming that the plaintiff had no standing. A judge disagreed and is allowing the suit to proceed. So, everybody will get their day in court.
More details in the article. Just goes to show you, it ain't just Republicans with concerns.
I should say, though, that softening the signature requirement would make me more concerned about fraud rather than less. I mean, people are given a chance to "cure" their ballots after all.
https://www.cpr.org/2023/05/05/colorado-mail-ballot-signature-rejection-lawsuit-continues/
Wild, wild horses...
I saw a headline or two about legislative efforts re. wild horses this session, but I'll be honest, I didn't give it any attention. So, this post will be (for me at least) a little bit of catch-up.
The bill below is headed to the governor's desk (or could've been signed as of today--check the Bill History tab for the most current info) after being passed by the Assembly.
I'll leave it to you to read up on the bill itself, but essentially the state will fund a nonprofit organization which will manage the wild horse population in Colorado. By my reading, they'll manage both the population of horses, and how horses that are removed from the wild will be handled.
There was a ton of heartburn and drama among animal advocates (see the Sun article linked below the bill for an example) when the Feds decided to do a roundup recently, so I hope that this bill will help to settle that somewhat. I won't hold my breath, but I will hope.
I think too, given the bipartisan sponsorship of the bill and the fact that the Western Slope (the area of the state most directly affected by wild horse populations) is specifically mentioned in the bill, that this bill and the organization it creates stands a chance of being middle of the road and not packed with animal rights activists from the Front Range.
I suppose we'll see on both scores.
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb23-275
https://coloradosun.com/2022/08/03/wild-horses-western-colorado-roundup/