The Home Front: Meet Redneck Revolt, Colorado’s leftist militia. ‘You can do guns with us and you don’t have to be a racist’

“This corner of the resistance is a faction of a faction. The … shooters at this session at Whistling Pines Gun Club are members of the Colorado Springs chapter of the Colorado Action Network that goes by the more manageable acronym, COS CAN,” reports The Colorado Springs Independent alt-weekly. “It’s a group styled after the Indivisible project, which acts as a guide to resisting the Republican agenda by mobilizing a nationwide network of progressives to dog their elected representatives. Indivisible was itself modeled after the obstructionist successes of the Tea Party when Democrats held a supermajority in Congress during former President Barack Obama’s first term. Several Indivisible-inspired groups sprung up organically right after the election, but COS CAN has persisted as one of the most tight-knit and committed,” . “The group of mostly women and their more understated husbands gets together regularly to call their congressional delegation, stage sit-ins at their offices and attend protests against whatever has sparked liberal outrage that particular week. And now, in true Colorado Springs fashion, some of them have added regular shooting practice and open-carrying at rallies to their tactical repertoire.”

“A Delta High School graduate is suing the Delta County School District, claiming teachers and counselors retaliated against her when she spoke her mind, costing her scholarships and college admittance as well as causing mental anguish,” reports The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. “The lawsuit details several accusations by Cidney Fisk that school personnel dropped her grades, deprived her of honors, undermined her scholarship and university applications and created a hostile environment for her as she finished school. It also states that Fisk suffered ‘extreme emotional and mental harm, requiring hospitalization, inflicted by her teachers, counselors, and school officials, and possible lost opportunity to attend colleges and universities of her choice and to obtain scholarships.’ Fisk, who graduated in 2016 and now studies political science at the University of Denver, filed the civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Denver against the district through her attorneys, Jeffrey Springer and Andrew Reid of Denver, on Monday.”

“Maps illuminating the plexus of oil and gas pipelines beneath Lafayette soil will rest solely in the hands of industry officials for now,” reports The Longmont Times-Call. “Planning commissioners, dealt a vague, poorly vetted ordinance, tabled a decision on what may prove to be a watershed measure until Wednesday night — on the condition that the city’s attorney, David Williamson, would be present to answer lingering questions. He wasn’t in attendance at Tuesday night’s meeting. Under its current language, the measure would also extend the city’s setback requirements to 750 feet; restricting new drilling sites to that distance from existing development, and conversely, barring new, traditional development — such as residential and commercial — from coming within that distance of existing wells.”

“In the wake of widespread protests in the National Football League, some Republican politicians in Weld County have renounced football, and the Weld County GOP has organized Take a Stand Day, encouraging people to play the National anthem on their phones at noon Thursday while standing,” reports The Greeley Tribune. “Thirty-two Denver Broncos players joined a slew of others across the NFL who took a knee Sunday during the national anthem, which is routinely played before the football games.”

“Immigrants and local educators Tuesday described an atmosphere of fear in the immigrant community at the Post Independent’s third Common Ground forum of 2017, while calling for a national immigration policy that meets Garfield County’s economic needs,” reports The Glenwood Springs Post-Independent. “Junior Ortega, a Garfield County employee and a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, was among the panelists. Known as DACA, this Obama-era executive order protected young immigrants brought into the U.S. illegally. President Donald Trump recently rescinded that protection and gave Congress six months to pass a replacement.”

“The controversial NFL protest that was center stage across the nation this past weekend seeped into a Pueblo City Council meeting Monday with two councilmen offering different opinions on the subject,” reports The Pueblo Chieftain.

“As small rural school districts across Colorado struggle to recruit and retain talented teachers, veteran Colorado educator and administrator Tina Goar has come to Northwest Colorado and immersed herself in a program intended to allow teaching candidates who have college degrees, but are not certified to teach, to work toward that goal while leading a classroom,” reports The Steamboat Pilot. “Goar is the new executive director of the Northwest Colorado Board of Cooperative Educational Services — BOCES — based in Steamboat Springs and serving seven school districts in Moffat, Routt, Jackson and Grand counties.”

“A 35-year-old Loveland man died Tuesday morning after he jumped off the U.S. 34 bridge onto Interstate 25,” reports The Loveland Reporter-Herald. “The man was in a vehicle being driven by his wife, and he jumped out of the vehicle when she slowed down to turn onto the ramp to drive onto Interstate 25, said Greg Fairman, deputy county coroner. The man then jumped off of the bridge, landing in the southbound lanes of Interstate 25, according to information from the Larimer County Coroner and Loveland Police Department.”

“The Nederland Board of Trustees on Tuesday night pondered whether it would behoove the town to dissolve its marshal’s office and enter into a contract with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office to provide police services,” reports The Boulder Daily Camera. “The meeting was a work session regarding the 2018 budget, and no formal action was taken. It’s likely, however, that any such deal won’t happen by Jan. 1 when the 2018 budget goes into effect. ‘I think it’s a longer discussion,’ Mayor Kristopher Larsen said following the meeting. ‘There are a lot of pieces to consider.'”

“The impending ban of single-use plastic bags in town appears not to be a question of if, or when, but how,” reports Vail Daily. “At its regular meeting Tuesday, Sept. 26, Town Council members expressed support for a ban on single-use plastic bags in town starting May 1, but stalled on passing the ban due the question of how the ban should be applied, and how the funds garnered from mandatory fees on paper bags should be distributed.”

“CSU officials don’t expect much to change as federal guidelines on handling accusations of student-on-student sexual misconduct hover in limbo,” reports The Coloradoan in Fort Collins. “Colorado State University is ‘dedicated to addressing sexual misconduct and interpersonal violence on our campus,’ spokesperson Mike Hooker wrote in an email to the Coloradoan. “This commitment is not driven by federal administrative positions or shifts in those positions over time.'”

“More than 35,800 pounds — or nearly 18 tons — of electronics have been collected for recycling in Fremont County this year,” reports The Cañon City Daily Record. “On Saturday, an electronic recycling event was hosted at the Bank of the San Juans, where 16,440 pounds of electronics were collected. The event was hosted by the Upper Arkansas Recycling and was subsidized in part by Fremont County.”

“Anthony Godoy smiles as he examines a tiny chicken growing in a corner of a quiet classroom at William Smith High School in Aurora,” reports The Denver Post. “The 17-year-old is surrounded by classmates of an eight-week course titled “Chicken Tenders,” one of several hands-on learning projects at William Smith. Holding a fragile egg over a lighted lamp, Godoy and the other teens can see the chick inside and predict when it might hatch. In this class, about 20 students learn about genetics and zoology while raising 26 chicks and then consider the ethics of what to do with the animals as they mature.”

“The sight of a drone equipped to detect levels of radiation flying a few feet off the ground last week at the Durango Dog Park had a few dog owners turning their heads,” reports The Durango Herald. “So much so that the event even earned itself a space in the Durango Police Department’s blotter. However, what some dog owners witnessed that day at the popular park near downtown Durango is a potentially promising method of detecting levels of radiation over large swathes of land. It is also being captured in a Fort Lewis College class’ documentary about Durango’s history of uranium, a partnership between the college and Rocky Mountain PBS.”

“The Colorado River ought to have its own legal status that would put it on the same footing as people or corporations, according to an environmental group that filed a lawsuit in Denver federal court Monday,” reports The Gazette in Colorado Springs. “The lawsuit is the first of its kind in the United States, its proponents say. The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) announced the pending lawsuit last week, naming the environmental group Deep Green Resistance (DGR) as “next friends” on behalf of the Colorado River ecosystem, which won’t be appearing. Deep Green Resistance’s Colorado chapter has been active on a number of environmental issues; most recently protecting prairie dog communities in several Colorado locales.”