Chase Woodruff
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Chase Woodruff
@chasewoodruff.bsky.social
4.9K followers 790 following 850 posts
Reporter, @coloradonewsline.com
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Because DOC is a "criminal justice agency" under Colorado's open records laws, it has much more power to withhold information from the public than other agencies governed by CORA. It says the redacted information in the Trump DOJ's Peters letter was withheld as being "contrary to public interest."
The information you are requesting is denied pursuant to C.R.S. 24-72-305(5), contrary to public interest. The Colorado Department of Corrections is a criminal justice agency, and criminal justice records are not "Public Records" (see C.R.S. 24-72-202(6)(b)(I)).
November 25, 2025 at 9:53 PM
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After multiple requests and quite a long delay for a single-page public document, the DOC finally produced the letter yesterday. But more than half of it was redacted.
A copy of a letter sent by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to the Colorado DOC requesting a transfer of Tina Peters: "Dear Director Stancil: The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) respectfully submits this request to initiate the transfer of a state inmate from the Colorado Department of Corrections to federal custody for the purpose of serving a state-imposed sentence within a federal correctional institution."
November 25, 2025 at 9:50 PM
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This was funny enough when it seemed like just Bari riffing in the moment and being unable to come up with two better names. The fact that it's actually something she and a team of people conceived and executed is something my brain is simply unable to process
A Youtube screenshot of a 1 hour 9 minute video featuring Bari Weiss moderating a debate between Alan Dershowitz and Dana Loesch on the second amendment
November 25, 2025 at 4:03 PM
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If the tone of alarm in this Clerks Association letter wasn't enough, Denver Clerk Paul López just put out a statement referring to a "potential deal" to transfer Peters. Very unclear what's going on and neither the governor's office nor DOC have provided much clarity in response to questions today.
Clerk López Issues the Following Statement on the Potential Deal to Move Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters Friday, Nov. 21, 2025 - DENVER, CO - Denver Clerk & Recorder Paul D. López issues the following statement on the potential deal to move former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters: "Any gesture that panders to Donald Trump's ongoing assault on the rule of law and the integrity of our elections is a betrayal to the thousands of bipartisan elections workers who, despite threats and intimidation, continue to put country before party. I strongly urge Governor Polis to uphold the rule of law and protect the security of our elections - not indulge the whims of a reckless president who continues to betray our republic. Our democracy is not a bargaining chip."
November 21, 2025 at 11:28 PM
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Man I love these guys. Who else is brave enough to do 15 seconds of pro forma throat-clearing skepticism at the top of 15 minutes of breathlessly glazing Silicon Valley's bold new plans to violate one or several laws of thermodynamics
Kevin Roose So a couple companies, including just recently, Google, have now announced that they are exploring a data center in space. Casey Newton Which sounds like a joke when you say - building anything in space seems so impractical, so expensive, so doomed to failure, that it truly does just sound like a joke. But what you're saying to me right now, Kevin, is that there is a legitimate, serious plan to try to do this. Kevin Roose Yes, I also thought this was like some kind of crazy, science fiction moonshot thing. And it is like an experimental thing. No one is doing this today. But Google has put out a paper on what it calls Proiect Suncatcher. Kevin Roose No, these would be - if you look at some of the mock-ups that some of these companies - there's another company called Star Cloud that's a startup that's got some funding from NVIDIA. And if you look at the mock-up that they have made, it kind of looks like a giant bird. But the wings are these very thin solar panels, these sort of arrays of solar panels. And the center of it is these clusters of computers, essentially. And it's just kind out there orbiting in space. And the wings are kind of catching all of the sun. And they're feeding that energy into the computers at the center of the cluster. Casey Newton Got it. So we're in one of these giant, terrifying, bird-like structures that are swarming over the Earth in this future. And they're getting so much energy from the sun. And it's so efficient. And that is driving all of the compute that's happening inside the computers. How does whatever is happening inside the giant, terrifying bird get back to us down here on Earth in a timely fashion? Kevin Roose That's a great question. And I asked this to a couple people I talked to over the past week or so who have been working on this stuff. And what they told me this is actually not that much different from something like Starlink. You're sending data from a satellite, or a series of satellites, back to Earth. It's not that far away. It's not like these are light years away. It might take a couple more milliseconds than you would take to transmit something here on the Earth. And that is actually something that how to do. Kevin Roose I think they're serious about this. And I think they are looking out to a future, 5, 10, 15 years away, where the demand for AI and AI-related tasks is just essentially infinite. It's like, this is not something that 10 percent of people are using every day. This is something that 100 percent of people are using constantly, that there are entire companies or sectors of the economy that have been fully turned over to AI. And maybe that happens and maybe it doesn't. But if it does happen, we're going to need a lot of energy and a lot of data centers. And we may run out of land and power here on Earth. Casey Newton Now, something that I did not realize until after I had read about Suncatcher is just how many other companies are looking at doing the same thing. Can you give me a high level overview of who else is playing here? And does it seem like anyone else is further along than Google is right now? Kevin Roose Yeah, so as I mentioned, there's this company, Star Cloud, which is a Y Combinator startup that got some funding from NVIDIA. They are the main ones here doing this. There's also a company called Axiom Space that is doing this. And we think that there are some Chinese companies, or at least one Chinese effort to do a space-based data center, although they've been a little bit vague about the details there. And then "The Information" had an article about some comments that Eric Schmidt and Jeff Bezos have made, suggesting that maybe they are also interested in or looking at doing something like this.
November 20, 2025 at 8:51 PM
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PBS crashing in a new "the Founding Fathers were slaving land speculators who paid 1/26th the taxes of British mainlanders" edit after seeing Woke 2 win at the polls two weeks ago
November 18, 2025 at 3:55 AM
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You're telling me that profile was *not* in fact an arch, subtle give-em-enough-rope skewering and is being received in the elite circles it was written for as straightforwardly rehabilitative?
Trump hearing about Ruth Bader Ginsburg
November 15, 2025 at 4:54 PM
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Colorado's establishment Dem blog of record making a fairly overt threat re: a rumored primary challenge to Hickenlooper. www.coloradopols.com/diary/218469...
As for Sen. Julie Gonzales? She’s an energetic young progressive, and if she chooses to run an above-board primary race focused on ideas and not cheap shots at Hickenlooper personally, her likely losing bid doesn’t have to be a negative for her career in the long term. This comes with a warning that if Gonzales goes “scorched earth” against Hickenlooper the mold of Hickenlooper’s 2020 primary opponent Andrew Romanoff, much like Romanoff that will end badly for her prospects beyond losing the primary.
November 15, 2025 at 3:56 PM
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This will apparently add (negligible) storage costs, but I don't even see how that's true, since one of my favorite stupid only-in-government things is that the "audio-only" recordings are already stored as enormous mp4 files (because the webcasting platform they use is designed for video).
a screenshot of an mp4 file playing in Quicktime with clipart of the Colorado Capitol and text saying "audio only"
November 14, 2025 at 8:34 PM
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"Donald and I were in aspen, sitting at little nells"

Epstein, in a 2016 email among the files released by House Dems today, tells a story about being in Aspen with Trump in 1993.
Text of a 2016 email from Epstein to Melanie Spinella A story - In 1993 trump and I had a friend that kept telling his pilots how to fly, and when to fly, he couldnt help himself from hiring morons as co pilots, and maintenance people based on cheapest rates. Donald and I tried and tried to talk some sense into him, to no avail. Donald and I were in aspen, sitting at little nells. when the friends plane crashed into the side of aspen mountain, klling him and all on board, - Trump looked at me and said without a blink, I guess NOW he wishes he would have listened to us.- a metaphor for your office...
November 12, 2025 at 7:14 PM
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Denver finally going Lambert Mode
THE MADNESS of an autumn prairie cold front coming through. You could feel it: something terrible was going to happen. The sun low in the sky, a minor light, a cooling star. Gust after gust of disorder. Trees restless, temperatures falling, the whole northern religion of things coming to an end. No children in the yards here. Shadows lengthened on yellowing zoysia. Red oaks and pin oaks and swamp white oaks rained acorns on houses with no mortgage. Storm windows shuddered in the empty bedrooms. And the drone and hiccup of a clothes dryer, the nasal contention of a leaf blower, the ripening of local apples in a paper bag, the smell of the gasoline with which Alfred Lambert had cleaned the paintbrush from his morning painting of the wicker love seat.
November 7, 2025 at 10:46 PM
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Ganz W
The Corleones are pitted against modernity: "It is a principal thesis of The Godfather that American society is a Gesellschaft at war with the Gemeinschaft inherent in the extended families of organized crime, and it is the claim of the novel and even more intensely of the films that the truly natural, legitimate, normal, and healthy type of society is that of the gangs." But not all the gangs. For Francis, the Jewish mobsters Moe Greene and Hyman Roth are particularly representative of Gesellschaft: they are "motivated mainly by avarice, and the cash bond is the only one they understand." For Francis, the tragedy of The Godfather is that Michael Cor-leone cannot preserve the Gemeinschaft of the family in the midst of the American Gesellschaft: his attempts to wield power to protect the family are self-undermining, and he destroys his family: "That was his tragedy, as it is the tragedy of human society. Power is not only necessary to the functioning of society, as Machiavelli taught; it also possesses a relentless logic that eventually eats up itself as it irresistibly converts Gemeinshaft into Gesellschaft and turns the consensual and deferential social bonds of the former into the coercive commands and cash relationships of modernity." But the exercise of power is unavoia-able and necessary, even if it is self-destructive, and Francis celebrates The Godfather's "slap in the face" of "the favorite American myth that through assimilation into the institutional environment offered by the democratic capitalism of the American Gesellshaft, human beings can be perfected and force and fraud as enduring and omnipresent elements of social existence can be escaped." The regime of force and fraud had to be accepted, embraced even, albeit without the hypocrisy of liber-alism: "Evil, as Machiavelli taught, is a necessary part of social and political organization, though it is to le recognized as such and not. disguised through the illusory cant of modernist ideology.?" When Go… our lives. Because America was born as a kind of revolt against author-ity, we elevate notions of individual liberty very high-and should, right? But then we have a hard time dealing with how were going to relate to authority. We're not mature about the balance between authority and individual rights... We haven't figured out how internalizing the rule of law doesn't oppress you—it makes you free." He might have learned something from the author Robert Lacey's take, just below his own: "Gotti's a satanic sort of authority figure." When New York turned its lonely eyes to John Gotti, it was longing for another kind of authority than the type Giuliani had represented up to that point. It didn't really want the law, universalism, meritocracy, rationality, bu-reaucracy, good government, reform, blind justice, and all that bullshit. The institutions had failed, the welfare state had failed, the markets had failed, there was no justice, just rackets and mobs: the crowd didn't want the G-man dutifully following the rules, and it didn't want to be part of the "gorgeous mosaic"; it wanted protection, a godfather, a boss, just like the undertaker at the beginning of The Godfather. Gotti was not really a figure of revolt and anarchy at all, he was a symbol of order, the old order that many longed for still, an order more real and deeper than the law, upheld by brute power. The papers made much of Giuliani's use of "obscenity" in his speech. Giuliani understood that the voice of real authority was obscene. Maybe all the city's fractious parts came together to make a mosaic, but it was in the form of an icon of John Gotti, a negative spirit of the city as a warren of rackets, mobs, and grasping, fighting individuals. And if Giuliani wanted to be mayor, he'd have to light a candle at the altar.
November 7, 2025 at 3:19 AM
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Appears that Colorado's off-year turnout, after a strong start early on, slackened in the runup to Election Day. On pace now for turnout to dip relative to 2023 (though still an increase over 2021).
A chart from the Colorado secretary of state's office showing 1,648,631 ballots returned in the 2025 election
November 5, 2025 at 7:09 PM
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Not going in the right direction for the Republican slate, which benefited from lots of right-wing dark money. In contrast left-leaning groups spent almost nothing and appear to be on the verge of, I believe, a shock 6-5 city council majority.
November 5, 2025 at 4:43 AM
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Plenty of vote outstanding, but the most eye-catching early CO election results may be in Aurora, where two D-affiliated candidates lead their R-affiliated opponents, including Danielle "Complete Gang Takeover" Jurinsky.
November 5, 2025 at 3:14 AM
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Is it too much to ask for a contemporary dramatization of nuclear apocalypse that neither is anchored by a calamitously bad Idris Elba performance nor rests a somewhat crucial piece of internal plot logic on a citation of a Joe Rogan podcast appearance
The cover of Annie Jacobsen’s “Nuclear War: A Scenario”
November 4, 2025 at 12:34 AM
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The view from the top of the Capitol steps. One of the largest crowds I can remember seeing here. March starting now.
October 18, 2025 at 7:04 PM
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Former state Rep. Joe Salazar contrasts the “courage” of AG Phil Weiser — to whom he narrowly lost in the 2018 AG primary — with the “cowardice” of Sens. Bennet and Hickenlooper for voting for many of Trump’s nominees. (Weiser faces Bennet in the 2026 governor race.)
October 18, 2025 at 6:57 PM
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Julian Camera of the ACLU giving the crowd a rundown of their constitutional rights ahead of a planned march.

“The reason I share these rights with you today,” he says, “is because it’s rookie hour at the federal government.”
October 18, 2025 at 6:42 PM
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Activist Tiffany Weber, one of the event’s organizers, mentions GOP Speaker Mike Johnson’s description of today’s protests as “Hate America” rallies.

“I laughed the first time I heard it, because it means something — it means they're scared,” Weber says. “That means we’re doing something right.”
October 18, 2025 at 6:30 PM
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The inflatables are here.
People in inflatable costumes at the No Kings protest at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver
October 18, 2025 at 6:16 PM
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A still-growing crowd of thousands gathered at the Colorado State Capitol for today’s anti-Trump No Kings protest.
October 18, 2025 at 6:13 PM
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“He believes in science”
Hickenlooper, Bennet Announce Support for Chris Wright's Nomination A Coloradan, Wright has been nominated to serve as Secretary of Energy WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet announced their support for the confirmation of Chris Wright to be Secretary of Energy. Wright's nomination will have a vote in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today before advancing to the full Senate. "Chris Wright is a scientist who has dedicated his life to the study and use of energy. He believes in science and supports the research that will deliver the affordable, reliable, and clean energy that will not only lower costs but make our country more secure. While we don't always agree, we will work together because none of us have four years to wait to act," said Hickenlooper. "Chris Wright is a successful Colorado entrepreneur with deep expertise in energy innovation and technology. He is passionate about strengthening America's energy independence and lowering costs for Colorado families. While we don't agree on everything, we look forward to working with him to ensure Colorado continues to lead the country in energy production and innovation," said Bennet
September 29, 2025 at 7:55 PM
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Here's a story I reported in 2023 in Pueblo County, Colorado, which shifted 7 points towards Republicans in 2024 despite being a huge beneficiary of IRA-fueled clean energy investment: coloradonewsline.com/2023/10/12/p...
By any objective measure, Pueblo is well on its way to fulfilling Gradisar's hopes, and has already established itself as an epicenter of the global energy transition. But if the green economy is turning things around for Pueblo as a whole, it isn't easy to see it in the pocketbooks of people around town. Incomes here are roughly 30% lower than the statewide average, a gap that hasn't narrowed over the last decade. Population growth remains slow, and local tax revenues are mostly flat. Should it trouble the climate movement, and Democrats looking to capitalize on their leadership in the global energy transition, that an old-economy city establishing itself in the epicenter of the new economy doesn't exactly feel like a boomtown? In formal interviews and casual conversation, few Pueblo residents cite the impact of green jobs or IRA investment without specific prompting. They're more likely to note the proliferation of marijuana farms in the surrounding Arkansas Valley - Pittsburgh of the West, meet the "Napa Valley of cannabis" - or the county's booming health care industry, another development Pueblo has in common with many Rust Belt cities. "Talk about big employers in this town - Parkview (Medical Center), they are just expanding and expanding," said Kathryn Adams, who's called Pueblo home for decades along with her husband, John Norton, a former business reporter for the Pueblo Chieftain. For Bennet and other congressional Democrats, selling communities like Pueblo on the benefits of the energy transition is a political necessity, as the party looks to defend its climate agenda at the polls and fight off any GOP attempts, now or in the future, to roll back Biden's signature accomplishment. That's not a task made easier by the structure of the climate law, even if its scope is far more ambitious than any federal effort to date. Nothing like the Green New Deal emerged from the 117th Congress. No federal agency will unfurl its banner in Pueblo to herald its green jobs boom as part of an important national public works project. When the final phase of CS Wind's factory expansion is completed in 2028, the city will owe the impact of hundreds of millions of dollars in local investment to a few submerged tax provisions in the quixotically-named Inflation Reduction Act. On multiple sides, the Comanche plant is now surrounded by Pueblo's energy future: solar farms generating hundreds of megawatts of zero-emissions energy simply by soaking up the abundant southern Colorado sunshine. As real property assets, they're a poor substitute for Comanche's boilers; Pueblo County only supported early retirement of Unit 3 after a settlement with Xcel and the state that guarantees a $30 million annual property-tax payment will continue for a decade after its closure. What's more, the only ones at work here, beneath the shade of the solar panels on a hot August day, are the sheep, grazing on prairie grass as part of an "agrivoltaics" initiative of the kind supported by a new state grant program. Though there are already more Americans employed today by the fast-growing clean energy sector than by fossil fuels, in blue-collar towns like Pueblo, it can be easy to forget it. Workers at CS Wind aren't unionized. Though wages there and in the clean energy sector generally are higher than for many of Pueblo's retail or service jobs, they are also, in many cases, lower than wages for the best union jobs at the coal plant or the steel mill. The widespread perception among fossil-fuel workers, said Smith of the SMART union, is that the energy transition will mean a step down in pay and benefits. "The jobs in solar and wind and the renewable sector don't pay the same as the unionized jobs at the power plant, at the railroad, at the coal mine," Smith said. "Even the non-union coal mine in Colorado still pays significantly well, because they have to compete."
September 23, 2025 at 3:52 PM
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At LibsofTikTok's direction, Colorado Republicans are organizing to call for the firing of this state employee, who says nothing in this post that could be construed as celebrating Kirk's death or supporting violence. A retaliatory purge for political speech underway.
Tweet from Rose Pugliese: "I’m calling on @jaredpolis to immediately fire this state employee for attacking the late Charlie Kirk. Political violence is unacceptable against everyone, which a supposed mental health professional should know!" The screenshotted post reads: "If you haven't said anything about the countless mass shootings, school shootings, or shit about ice raids, palestine, Black Lives Matter, and the violation of rights of LGBTQIA folks, women, or folks without access to shelter, food, clean water but want to talk about how we should/should not feel or react to how a pro-gun, pro-violence dude died via gunshot literally shut the fuck up and talk to yourself. Do some self reflection and interrogation of why you speak up for a white man who spews horrid shit against every marginalized community. No heart? Pleeeeeease look at who and what you're speaking up for."
September 12, 2025 at 4:24 PM