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Civil Rights

Disability-rights advocate Carrie Ann Lucas, 1971-2019, a “bad-ass” to the end Friends, family honor...

In the wake of disability-rights advocate Carrie Ann Lucas’s death on Sunday, state lawmakers offer a moment of silence in her honor. Those who...
The United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX). Fremont County, near Florence, Colorado.

Guest Post: Prisons don’t work; let’s stop pretending otherwise 'The rate at which incarceration...

Colorado was in the news recently as commentators speculated where Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman would serve his sentence. Several outlets pointed to ADX, the...
The Colorado Independent's editor, Susan Greene, was handcuffed and detained by Denver police officers on Colfax Avenue on July 5, 2018. (Screenshot via body-cam footage provided by city of Denver)

Denver police violated policy when they detained Indy editor, internal investigation finds Officers James...

A Denver Police Department internal investigation released today found two officers violated city policy when they handcuffed and detained Colorado Independent Editor Susan Greene...

Colorado Democrats scrap plan to make Election Day a holiday, citing unintended consequences But...

Voting rights advocates across the country have long believed Election Day should be a legal holiday. Millions of non-voters say they’re too busy to...

When Colorado cops police themselves, the public can be left in the dark A...

Editor's note: This bill passed the state House and Senate and, as of March 28, just needs the governor's signature to become law. When...

Littwin: We honor MLK by learning Republicans were lynched and King wasn’t about race

“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” — Martin Luther King Jr. You can find a Martin Luther...

Judge nixes citizenship question on Census, but immigrant groups are ‘skeptical and very afraid’

Minority and civil rights activists applauded Tuesday’s court decision overruling the Trump administration’s plan to include a question regarding citizenship status on the 2020...

Court secrecy, a handcuffed journalist, ‘Access Denied’: CFOIC’s year-in-review 2018

Two words come to mind when looking back at 2018’s government transparency highlights and lowlights in Colorado. Judicial secrecy. In June, the Colorado Supreme Court baffled many legal...

Colorado could move to clear pre-legalization marijuana convictions statewide as soon as 2019 Black...

Boulder’s district attorney last week announced plans to vacate and seal thousands of convictions for marijuana possession prior to the drug’s legalization in 2012....
Denver Police Sgt. Brian Conover speaks with Dorian Phillips on Nov. 14, 2018, during a police sweep of a homeless encampment in Five Points. (Photo by Alex Burness for The Colorado Independent)

Latest Denver police sweep forces three dozen homeless from RiNo camp It was the...

A young woman shrieked and howled Wednesday morning as she stomped across Arkins Court toward Brighton Boulevard, away from the homeless encampment where she’d...