Kelly Sloan, The Business Times The Grand Junction City Council looks very different following an election in which challengers unseated incumbents in three races. Rick Brainard, Martin Chazen and Phyllis Norris were elected to the council. Harry Butler also returns to the council by virtue of his victory against two other candidates. Nearly 11,700 Grand […]
Kelly Sloan, The Business Times An increase in fees assessed on development in Grand Junction has raised concerns the higher rates could discourage business growth. “Now is not the time to be increasing transportation fees. While we are struggling to recover from the recession, we should be doing everything we can to help business, not […]
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul’s filibuster was not only enormously fun to watch, but demonstrated a piece of political genius to boot. If nothing else, the filibuster was a symbolic victory for conservatives sorely in need of a public show of resistance against an increasingly engorged leviathan. On the merits of Sen. Paul’s arguments, we enter […]
Kelly Sloan, The Business Times Grand Junction voters will have a say in a lengthy zoning dispute that has implications for private property rights as well as recreational development along the Colorado River. Referred Measure A on the mail-in ballot asks voters whether or not to uphold light industrial and industrial office zoning for two […]
Writing this on the morning following the deadline for the dreaded sequestration cuts to commence, I note happily that civilization is not crumbling around me like some B-grade movie. In the heady exhilaration of that realization, I make a bold prediction: When this column goes to print, no explicit signs of a sequestration-generated Armageddon will […]
Energy and business groups in western Colorado are cautiously optimistic about the President’s nominee for Interior Secretary, in these early stages of the process. Following Ken Salazar’s resignation in January, President Obama nominated Sally Jewell, the Chief Executive Officer of Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI), to head the Department of the Interior. The Department is responsible […]
President Barack Obama delivered a State of the Union speech last week that, for all of its soaring rhetoric, presented very little beyond a deeply flawed analysis of the American condition. What stood out most in the speech was not Obama’s assessment of the problems the nation faces — with the exception, perhaps, of his […]
Kelly Sloan, The Business Times A proposed measure subjecting Colorado businesses that employ fewer than 15 people to the same legal sanctions in wrongful-dismissal lawsuits as larger employers has drawn harsh criticism from the small business community and Republican lawmakers. House Bill 13-1136 would extend payment of attorney’s fees; court costs; and punitive and compensatory […]
Kelly Sloan, The Business Times A public comment period remains open through April 25 on a proposed plan guiding management of more than 1 million acres of federal land in Mesa County, including provisions affecting energy development and off-road travel. Comments will help determine how various alternatives are integrated into a revised management plan (RMP) […]
Kelly Sloan Former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel can, and should, be honored for his service in Vietnam. It’s not for his heroism in 1967 and 1968 the nominee for secretary of defense ought to be evaluated, however, but for his analysis of the national security situation facing the nation in 2013 and beyond. There would […]