by Todd Shepherd It’s natural to assume when a state employee gets a promotion, there’s a raise that goes along with it; greater responsibilities usually correspond with greater rewards. However, when a state employee is demoted or moved to a job with less responsibilities, a statutory rule also allows the worker to keep their previous [...]

The tragedy of the Lower North Fork fire has sent many TV stations and papers scrambling to review call logs and tapes from the Jefferson County Emergency Telephone Authority (which also serves Broomfield County). However, 911 emergency telephone authorities (ETAs) have never received much scrutiny, especially where financials are concerned. Also, ETA’s work on the [...]

By Todd Shepherd Unlike previous Colorado governors, John Hickenlooper hasn’t offered any legislation or policy theme (think Ritter and green energy) as being the signature effort or achievement of his administration. Even his “signature” policy effort thus far is called, somewhat ironically, “To Be Determined.” There’s seemingly little that he has put his full [...]

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Department of Energy (DOE) has released numerous documents relating to the $400-million in DOE guaranteed loans to Abound Solar. Previous reports said the DOE and Abound were declining to release the documents because of “proprietary reasons.”  However, many redactions have still been made to the documents [...]

A covert audit of a third-party commercial driver’s license (CDL) testing facility found so many faults, 126 truck drivers had to be retested in order to keep their CDL driving privileges. The testing facility, located in Kit Carson County, has been forced to close. An email between officials in the state Department of Revenue (DOR) [...]

Independence Investigates has obtained all of the criminal background records for the 20 individuals arrested in he past weekend during ‘Occupy Denver’ protests. Four of the individuals have significant criminal backgrounds. Eleven of the twenty have no criminal record at all, excepting any arrest for their activities regarding ‘Occupy Denver.’ Michael Corey Donahue has [...]