Every voting precinct in the Tri-Lakes sits in Colorado’s Fifth Congressional District, where first-term Republican Jeff Crank faces Democrat Jessica Killin on November 3. Crank carried the district by 13.8 points two years ago. Last month one national handicapper moved the race from Likely Republican to Lean Republican. The Independent read the roll calls, the […]
Author Archives: Michael Christensen
Michael Christensen is the editor of The Monument Independent. He holds a BA in history and an MS in statistics, and has spent 30 years in marketing — the last 15 focused on digital marketing, data analytics, research, and artificial intelligence. In his professional work he is Director of Marketing Operations, Marketing Analytics, and AI Initiatives.
For the past ten years he has worked in educational research, land use assessment, and local government research — the three subjects that account for much of what this paper covers. The statistics training informs how the Independent handles numbers: test scores, campaign finance filings, and public-meeting vote records are traced to primary documents, and the method is published alongside the findings.
He is a married father of four school-age children. He coaches youth soccer, hikes in the Colorado mountains, fly fishes, and reads historical non-fiction and, less defensibly, books about data analysis strategy.
Posted inGovernment
Crank and Killin, in Their Own Words
The Independent sent the same five questions to Rep. Jeff Crank and Jessica Killin on September 13, and told both campaigns their answers would be published in full. Both answered. This is the complete record, reproduced as received and unedited. The reporting built on these answers, including where the claims in them hold up against […]
Posted inLocal News
Tri-Lakes Home Sales: July 2026
Ninety-one Tri-Lakes homes changed hands in ordinary market sales in July, at a median price of $720,000, according to El Paso County Assessor records.
Posted inGovernment
Buc-ee’s Opponents Take the County’s Decision to Court
Tri-Lakes Preservation, the Monument-area nonprofit that has opposed a Buc-ee’s at Interstate 25 and County Line Road since the Palmer Lake annexation fight, has joined neighbors of the site in asking El Paso County District Court to overturn the county commissioners’ Aug. 27 decision allowing the travel center in the C-1 zoning district. The complaint, […]
Posted inLocal News
Needles Highway 83 Approved 3–1, on the Criterion That Denied Walker Road
El Paso County commissioners approved a rezoning on Highway 83 Thursday morning by a vote of 3–1, converting 47.55 acres from five-acre lots to two-and-a-half-acre lots. No one spoke in support. Four residents spoke against it. The commissioner who voted no reached his conclusion through the same criterion the Board used to deny the Walker […]
Posted inGovernment
Bears, Trash and a Town Hall: What to Know Before Palmer Lake’s Meeting Tonight
Palmer Lake bears and trash are not on tonight’s Board of Trustees agenda, but the subject is headed for public comment, with a state senator’s testimony and a staff memo asking the board to wait.
Posted inGovernment
Bring Your Questions: Monument’s Council Opens the Floor on October 13
Monument’s council holds its quarterly open meeting with residents on October 13 at 6 p.m. at Town Hall, with a presentation on town finances and open questions.
Posted inOpinion
The Commissioners Will Write Their Own Limits
El Paso County is rewriting the code that decides how much discretion its commissioners have over land use. The five commissioners will adopt it. Residents have no ballot measure to reach for; what they have is the November ballot, and the right questions to ask on it. The first round of written comments on El […]
Posted inGovernment
Monument Town Council, September 21, 2026: 7 Brew Approved, Police Fees Rewritten
Monument’s council approved a drive-thru coffee stand it had sent back two weeks earlier, cut most of the police records fees it adopted in August before those fees take effect, moved the town’s employee health benefits to a public-entity trust, and hired a new water attorney to begin replacing one who has represented the town […]
Posted inLocal News
At the Woodmoor Barn, Residents Press the County’s Code Consultant on Density and Rezonings
About 50 residents questioned the county’s code consultant at the Woodmoor Barn on buffers, rezonings, density and water. Comments close Oct. 16.