The Mountain Minute: 3/14/2025

🎧 Mountain Minute – April 22, 2025
Hosted by Team RMV
Permits are stalled, wolves are wandering, and Colorado parents are speaking out. From statehouse overreach to global headlines, here’s your no-nonsense news roundup.

Colorado News:
🔹 Broken Permitting System Driving Housing Costs – A Denver builder says it now takes 385 days to get approval to build a home. A proposed plan would cut that to 225 days—but critics say it’s still too slow for a housing crisis.
Read more: https://rockymountainvoice.com/2025/04/treta-denvers-broken-permitting-system-is-driving-up-housing-costs-and-its-time-to-fix-it/

🔹 Polis Vetoes Open Records Bill – Governor Polis blocked a bill that would’ve made accessing public records harder—but conservatives say it’s too little, too late after years of backdoor governance.
Read more: https://rockymountainvoice.com/2025/04/polis-vetoes-open-records-bill-but-conservatives-say-its-too-little-too-late/

🔹 Moms Speak Out Against HB25-1312 – Erin Lee and Erin Friday say the bill would’ve labeled them as abusers for not affirming their daughters’ brief gender confusion. Their story is a warning about the real-world impact of radical legislation.
Read more: http://rockymountainvoice.com/2025/04/lee-and-friday-we-saved-our-daughters-hb25-1312-wouldve-punished-us-as-child-abusers/

🔹 Douglas County Home Rule Push – Candidates have until April 24 to file for Douglas County’s proposed Home Rule Charter Commission. If approved by voters, it would shift local governance away from centralized control.
Read more: https://rockymountainvoice.com/2025/04/home-rule-charter-commission-candidates-must-file-by-april-24-in-douglas-county/

🔹 Two Gray Wolves Killed After Crossing into Wyoming – Colorado Parks and Wildlife says more out-of-state fatalities are expected as reintroduced wolves ignore man-made borders.
Read more: https://rockymountainvoice.com/2025/04/colorados-wolf-plan-ignores-the-one-thing-wolves-dont-borders/

🔹 Christian Church Growth Signals Cultural Shift – After years of decline, Christian affiliation is stabilizing. Woodmen Valley Chapel just opened a new downtown campus in Colorado Springs on Easter, symbolizing a rebirth of public faith.
Read more: https://rockymountainvoice.com/2025/04/bible-sales-up-church-attendance-rising-revival-whispers-loud/

National News:
🔹 Pope Francis Passes Away at 88 – The Pope died peacefully on Monday morning. Tributes are pouring in from around the world.
Read more: https://rockymountainvoice.com/2025/04/pope-francis-dead-at-88-vatican-says/

🔹 Student Visa Lawsuits Target Trump-Era Enforcement – Foreign students—many with police records—are suing after their visas were revoked under a Trump policy to protect national security. Supporters say the move upheld integrity in the immigration system.
Read more: https://rockymountainvoice.com/2025/04/lawsuits-filed-over-student-visa-revocations-in-colorado/

🔹 Joondeph: Democrats Are Losing the Middle – Dr. Brian Joondeph argues the Left is “dying on the most unpopular hills in politics”—from open borders to gender ideology—and it’s pushing voters back toward Trump.
Read more: https://rockymountainvoice.com/2025/04/joondeph-democrats-are-dying-on-the-most-unpopular-hills-in-politics/

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