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CBS News
4 days ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Public radio stations in Colorado prepare to lose millions of dollars in federal funding
Some radio stations in Colorado might go under after the U.S. Senate passed a bill that cuts more than $1 billion in funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The nonprofit funds NPR, PBS and 1,500 radio and television stations across the country. Colorado Public Radio says it would lose $1.4 million -- about 5% of its funding. It says there are a dozen small public radio stations in mountain and rural communities that could go off the air due to the cuts. Those stations not only provide local news and programming, but emergency alerts in cases of major storms, flooding and wildfires. "If you're a hiker, if you're an outdoorsman, if you're a hunter, if you're a skier, or if you just live in a rural community and you rely on this infrastructure to keep yourself safe, all of this is at risk now," said Colorado Democrat Jason Crow, who opposed the bill. Ashley Krest, the general Manager at KVNF in Paonia, says her station has 10,000 listeners across 10,000 square miles on the Western Slope. She says some of them live in areas where there is no internet service. The radio station, she says, is a lifeline in emergencies like the South Rim Fire "So for them to be able to know that our at 90.9 or 89.1 is one that is going to deliver those special beeps that always come out and say, 'OK, we're now going to be evacuating off the south rim of the Black Canyon. These are the specific roads, and those are the folks that need to be paying attention and act now. Pack you go bag,'" Krest said. "I think that there's certain amount of trust that we've garnered from our listeners. We've been around for 46 years." Krest says KVNF receives 20% of its funding from the CPB. Gerald Rodriguez, general manager of KRZA in Alamosa, says his station receives nearly half of its funding from the organization. KRZA covers the entire San Luis Valley and Northern New Mexico. Rodriguez says the station not only provides emergency alerts for its own listeners but for two other radio stations. Rodriguez says he maintains the transmitter -- located on San Antonio Mountain -- himself to save money. "The terrain up there is pretty rough, especially in the winter time," Rodriguez said. "You can't get up there with an SUV, a snowmobile, anything. So I've had to literally hike up there three, four hours with a backpack in the cold snow in snowshoes to get up to the mountain and then fix our transmitter." Rodriguez and Krest say they will look for grants and fundraise, but cuts are likely. In addition to public broadcasting, the bill also cuts about $8 billion in foreign aid. All of Colorado's Republican members of U.S. Congress voted for the measure. "If NPR and PBS are as popular and important as they claim they are, they'll be able to run just fine without being subsidized by the federal government," Colorado Republican Lauren Boebert said in a statement shared with CBS Colorado. "This package is a good first step towards balancing our budget and cutting the wasteful spending from USAID that President Trump and I victoriously campaigned on eliminating." The bill passed the House and Senate, but the Senate made changes to it, including preserving funding for tribal radio stations, so the House will need to repass it.
The Independent
01-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Schumer warned Biden only five of 51 Senators wanted him to stay in the race after disastrous debate
Joe Biden's effort to remain atop the Democratic ticket in the 2024 presidential election came to a crashing halt last summer after the then-president was made aware of the paltry party support he still had among his former colleagues in the U.S. Senate, a new book reveals. In their inside account of the tumultuous election, titled simply 2024, Washington Post reporters Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf write that the July 13, 2024 meeting between Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Biden was only put on the president's private schedule after the veteran New York senator, with whom Biden served in the upper chamber for a decade, threatened to go public with his request for a sit-down. Schumer, who was then the Senate majority leader, traveled from Washington to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where Biden purchased a 4,786-square-foot beachfront home in 2017 after his term as vice president under Barack Obama had come to a close. According to the authors, Biden's meeting with his former colleague Schumer followed a series of Zoom meetings with key Democratic groups, including a contentious session with the House's New Democrat Coalition that blew up when Biden attacked Colorado Rep. Jason Crow, a decorated Army veteran who'd read the president a note which stated that he and others were 'seeing overwhelming evidence in our districts that many voters are losing confidence' in Biden's ability to handle another four-year term. Schumer reportedly heard the confrontation, during which Biden laid into Crow in personal terms, referencing his military service and demanding that the Coloradan find 'a world leader who's an ally of ours who doesn't think I'm the most effective president they've ever met' after the congressman questioned the sitting president's effectiveness. Things didn't get much better for Biden when he joined Schumer, who reportedly told him that of the 51 Democratic senators then in office, perhaps only five would express support for him to remain in the race if there was a secret ballot to measure the caucus' enthusiasm for the president. Biden was reportedly surprised by the statistic, at which point Schumer said: 'I know my caucus.' Schumer also r told Biden that his own campaign's pollsters were not confident that he could defeat Trump for a second time, the book claims. 'I don't believe you are getting all the information,' he said. 'Or the information you are getting is inaccurate.' The president asked Schumer for a week to make a decision, and as he left his home to attend Mass at nearby St. Edmund Catholic Church, he posed one more question to the Senate leader. He asked: 'What do you think about Kamala? Do you think she could win?' Schumer told Biden he didn't know if the vice president could defeat Trump, but he added that he was sure the president could not. 'If I were you, I wouldn't run, and I'm urging you not to run,' he said. One week leader, Biden released a letter announcing that he was standing down from the presidential race, becoming the first incumbent president to do so since then-president Lyndon Johnson announced that he would not seek the Democratic presidential nomination amid the tumult of the Vietnam War in 1968. He wrote: 'It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.'
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘You cannot bomb your way out of this': Rep. Jason Crow on Trump Administration's intel missteps
Rep. Jason Crow, Democratic Congressman from Colorado, Michael Crowley, New York Times Diplomatic Correspondent, Ned Price, Former Spokesperson for the State Department Nicolle Wallace on Deadline White House to discuss the cancelled briefings that were scheduled for both chambers of congress, and why national security experts are sounding the alarm over the lack of transparency in even classified settings by this administration.
Washington Post
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Military parade, big protests will fuel clashing visions of America
In Washington, tanks will roll down the streets, planes will streak overhead and bands will pump out military tunes as soldiers parade before a president who embraces a gilded, muscular form of patriotism — and whose birthday it is. Across the country, demonstrators will flood hundreds of cities and towns, making speeches and holding 'No Kings' signs to denounce what they see as President Donald Trump's authoritarian tactics and disregard for the Constitution. This Saturday will see one of the starkest displays of America's divisions since Trump took office, as contrasting visions of America unfold in vivid colors on the country's streets. The confrontation now playing out in Los Angeles is certain to fuel both sides, as some Americans cheer Trump's strong hand in quashing purported chaos and others decry what they see as his growing embrace of authoritarian tactics. Trump's critics are especially inflamed by the notion that the president would host a military parade on his birthday, which they say carries an unmistakable whiff of authoritarianism. 'Americans, in particular veterans, see this as a vanity endeavor for Donald Trump,' said Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colorado), a former Army ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. 'You have massive cuts to [veterans'] health care, troops away from their families for years over the last decade fighting wars on terror, barracks falling apart in many posts — and we will spend over $50 million to roll tanks through the streets of D.C.? It doesn't add up.' Trump has long made clear his desire for a dramatic military parade to showcase America's military might, a display that has traditionally been more common in other countries. June 14 is Flag Day as well as the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army's founding, and the White House says the fact that it is also Trump's 79th birthday is a coincidence. Sean Spicer, an officer in the Navy reserve who served as White House spokesman in Trump's first term, noted that the president seized on the idea of a military parade years ago, after seeing one as part of France's observation of Bastille Day. The juxtaposition with Trump's birthday is plainly happenstance, he said. 'This idea of 'kings' and his birthday — that is manufactured. He has not brought this up,' Spicer said. 'The only people mentioning his birthday are people in the media and the left. It's sad when the president of the United States, the commander in chief, is trying to recognize the sacrifice of so many, and haters want to tear it down.' As the confrontation in Los Angeles drags on, shaping up as a pivotal moment in Trump's second presidency, it is becoming increasingly conflated with Saturday's events. Trump sent the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles to confront protests against his immigration policies, and on Tuesday he suggested a similar dynamic could play out on Saturday. 'For those people that want to protest, they're going to be met with very big force,' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, making no distinction between violent and peaceful demonstrators. 'And I haven't even heard about a protest, but you know, this is people that hate our country. But they will be met with very heavy force.' In an address denouncing Trump's intervention in his state, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) cited the parade as part of the president's lurch toward authoritarianism. 'We all know that this Saturday he's ordering our American heroes, the United States military, and forcing them to put on a vulgar display to celebrate his birthday, just as other failed dictators have done in the past,' Newsom said Tuesday. Mike Madrid, a longtime Republican consultant who is critical of Trump, said the president's goal is the same in the L.A. confrontation and the D.C. parade: to warn opponents he is willing to use the military in unorthodox ways. 'The reason he is doing the military parade is not for flexing, it is to show he is willing to break norms with the military,' Madrid said, adding that the clash in California 'fits into that narrative.' Organizers say their plans for a Saturday No Kings protest in Los Angeles are moving forward and that the recent immigration-focused protests only confirm the need for it. They add that they are stressing nonviolence in all their planning. But the parade was a volatile subject long before the Los Angeles protests, with Trump's adversaries seizing on it as the epitome of his crude self-regard. Still, not everyone who supports the parade is an unequivocal Trump fan. Ty Seidule, a military historian at Hamilton College who retired as a brigadier general after 36 years in the Army, said he initially had mixed feelings about the parade but came to view it as a rare chance to highlight the U.S. Army, a storied and underappreciated organization. 'Is it the same day as his birthday? Yes, but it is also the Army's birthday,' Seidule said. 'The Army band is not playing 'Happy Birthday.' There isn't going to be a Marilyn Monroe moment, I hope. I think there are plenty of other things to criticize the president for, but to me, if you focus on that, you are taking away the opportunity to celebrate something we don't often do in this country.' Saturday's display could be a moment to highlight facts that Trump downplays, Seidule suggested, including the Army's historic reliance on immigrants and minorities. The Army's story is not all positive, he added; it helped end slavery and liberate the Nazi death camps, acts of undeniable heroism, but fell woefully short when it came to civil rights. 'It's an opportunity to tell Americans that we reflect the society, for better and worse,' he said. Trump's habit of seizing on traditional patriotic symbols, such as the American flag, Mount Rushmore and the Declaration of Independence, while using forceful tactics that his opponents see as un-American, has prompted a renewed discussion of the meaning of patriotism since he returned to office in January. Trump's adversaries say he routinely seeks to whitewash U.S. history, ignoring episodes of injustice and racial division in favor of a mythical unblemished past. The president and his supporters respond that he is pushing back against progressives' bitter obsession with magnifying the country's flaws and downplaying its greatness. The clash will get a full airing on July 4, 2026, when the country celebrates its 250th anniversary with enormous pomp. Trump is signaling his intent to use that occasion to promote his vision of patriotism, including the creation of a 'Garden of American Heroes,' a sculpture garden that the White House says 'will memorialize our American heroes for generations to come.' Which heroes to include is likely to be the subject of fierce argument. Saturday's parade and protest are the immediate flash points. At a recent hearing of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-California) suggested the parade's $45 million to $50 million price tag makes little sense at a time of cuts in military programs. 'If Congress wrote the Army a $45 million blank check, do you think the Army could find a better way to spend that money than a parade?' Carbajal asked. Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll responded that the 250th birthday celebration will spur a 'recruiting boom that will fill up our pipeline for the coming years,' so the money will be well-spent. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisconsin) added that 'you cannot put a price tag on patriotism. You cannot. And celebrating arguably — not even arguably — the best army that has ever existed in the history of the planet deserves attention.' At the celebration in Washington, 150 vehicles, dozens of helicopters, various planes and 6,700 soldiers are expected to take part, the Army has said. The Army's parachute team, the Golden Knights, will drop into the event, delivering an American flag to Trump, who will be watching the proceedings from a reviewing stand. The president will also enlist and reenlist 250 civilians and soldiers, and beyond the parade itself, the day will include a fireworks display, military demonstrations and country music performances. At the same time, activist groups such as Indivisible, 50501, the American Federation of Teachers and Black Voters Matter are planning to turn out thousands of protesters for the ''No Kings' nationwide day of defiance' that they say will include marches and rallies in about 2,000 locations. In some places, activists will spell out 'No Kings' on a beach or use cards to spell it out on a field. 'Trump is trying to claim that he owns this country, that he is the ruler of this country,' said Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible. 'By holding a military parade, it's his attempt to equate the American government with himself. … In these protests, we'll see a lot of patriotism, a lot of flags, a lot of veterans on stages talking about their service. We are not ceding the ground of patriotism.' Last Friday, thousands of veterans rallied against Trump's proposed cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs and his overhaul of the federal workforce, at a Unite for Veterans protest on the National Mall. Crow agreed that many veterans will take part in Saturday's protests, adding that the troops taking part in the parade are probably not happy about it, given how unpopular parade duty is in the military. 'On my three combat tours, we were focused on fighting, being physically fit and getting better at the mission, and if we had any time we wanted to be with our families,' the congressman said. 'I guarantee you those 6,000 troops preparing to engage in this parade would rather be doing something else.' Trump this week framed the event partly as a response to the fact that unlike other nations, the United States had not been planning a commemoration of victory in World War II, even though 'we're the ones that won the war.' He was equally blunt on NBC's 'Meet the Press' last month. 'We have the greatest missiles in the world,' Trump said. 'We have the greatest submarines in the world. We have the greatest army tanks in the world. We have the greatest weapons in the world. And we're going to celebrate it.' Seidule said that it is appropriate to celebrate the accomplishments of the U.S. Army — but also appropriate for Americans to protest if they wish. 'With our 340 million people, we will see it in all ways, and I welcome that. That is the American way,' he said. 'We should have this event, and there should be people protesting. What more American event could you have than to have people protesting as well?' Olivia George contributed to this report.
Fox News
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Democratic Party scrambles to fix image as members acknowledge party 'lost credibility'
The Democratic Party is continuing to weigh their path forward as some members of the party acknowledge a disconnect on cultural issues and other key voting demographics, The New York Times reported Sunday. "Over a long period of time, our party overdrew our trust account with the American people," Rob Flaherty, a former campaign manager for Kamala Harris, told the NYT. The Times reported that Democrats are still figuring out how to move forward as the party remains unpopular among voters. According to an NBC News poll from March, just 27% of registered voters have a positive view of the Democratic Party, which is the lowest positive rating since 1990. "We are losing support in vast swaths of the country, in rural America, in the Midwest, the places where I'm from," Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., told the outlet. "People that I grew up with who now support Donald Trump, who used to be Democrats. There's no reason why we shouldn't have the support of these folks, other than we have pushed, in so many ways, these people away from our party." Former DNC chair Jaime Harrison said the Democratic Party needed to figure out how to compete in states "where they're not." The New York Times reported that the party is engaging in one $20 million effort to win back young male voters online. The effort, which is named, "Speaking with American Men: A Strategic Plan," according to the outlet, will "study the syntax, language and content that gains attention and virality in these spaces." "Above all, we must shift from a moralizing tone," the plan says, according to the NYT. Zac McCrary, a Democratic pollster, warned that the Democratic Party's brand is off-putting to many Americans and cautioned against taking the wrong message from any potential success in the 2026 midterms. "The 2022 midterms masked the Biden problem," McCray said, referring to former President Joe Biden's age. "A good 2026 midterm — we should not let that mask a deeper problem." He added that the party "lost credibility by being seen as alien on cultural issues." Democrats were told to "embrace patriotism" and "get out of elite circles" earlier this year during a retreat focused on how to regain the working-class vote. Documents first obtained by Politico detailed a "Comeback Retreat" held by the center-left political group Third Way last month that sought "to deliberate on why Democrats are struggling with working-class voters around cultural issues, the nature of the economic trust gap with this critical group and ideas for how to address both problems." The documents, obtained by Fox News Digital, summarized key takeaways from the retreat on why Democrats have a "cultural disconnect" with the working class and why Democrats are "not trusted" when it comes to the economy. Most takeaways focused on Democrats' "faculty lounge" problem of being seen as too judgmental and beholden to their far-left members. "Democrats are often viewed as judgmental, out-of-touch, and dismissive of those without elite education or progressive views," the documents read. "This makes the party seem disconnected from everyday people."
