The OpEdge — The Gazette Opinion Podcast

Step Denver and Step Springs CEO Meghan Shay joins The OpEdge to explore addiction recovery, homelessness, and the role of accountability in lasting change. Shay tells host and investigative columnist Jimmy Sengenberger why she believes recovery is built on personal responsibility, peer support, and meaningful work, explaining how "real compassion" often means helping people confront hard truths rather than shielding them from consequences.

Amy Oliver Cooke, Independence Institute senior fellow and Always On Energy Research co-founder, joins The OpEdge to dissect Colorado's energy transition, grid reliability, and the state's net-zero goals. Cook warns host Jimmy Sengenberger that current state policies threaten affordability and reliability — and explains why she sees nuclear energy as one key to a more dependable electric future.

Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman joins The OpEdge to explore why he's spent every Friday night since February sleeping at a homeless shelter. Coffman tells host and investigative columnist Jimmy Sengenberger what the experience is teaching him about homelessness, why he believes Aurora's incentive-based model is the superior alternative to "Housing First," and how the city is working to move people toward self-sufficiency.

Jeffco Kids First founder Lindsay Datko joins The OpEdge to explore concerns about school safety, staff misconduct, and transparency in Jefferson County Schools. Datko tells host and investigative columnist Jimmy Sengenberger why she believes Colorado's second-largest district has too often prioritized self-protection over accountability, citing a sweeping safety audit, a federal Title IX finding, and what she sees as the key challenges facing Jeffco's next superintendent.

As homelessness continues to persist across Colorado, former Aurora City Councilman Dustin Zvonek paints a compelling picture the primary policy prescription may be enabling the root cause more than providing a permanent solution. Now the homelessness fellow at the Common Sense Institute, Zvonek tells Gazette and Colorado Politics Deputy Opinion Editor Antonio Olivero why he believes Colorado needs to pivot on its approach to better address the squalor on Centennial State streets.

Gazette columnist Rachel Gabel, editor of The Fence Post Magazine, says Gov. Jared Polis has ushered in an unprecedented era of tone-deafness to rural Colorado. In this sweeping interview with investigative columnist Jimmy Sengenberger, Gabel leaves no stone unturned over the issues facing rural Coloradans, warning everyday working people averse to politics, "If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu" at the state capitol.

Michael Fields, executive director of Advance Colorado, joins OpEdge host and investigative columnist Jimmy Sengenberger to assess the good, the bad and the ugly of the Colorado General Assembly's 2026 legislative session, spelling out what the budget, transportation and crime ramifications mean for concerned Coloradans.

The Common Sense Institute's director of communications and research operations, DJ Summers, dives deep with OpEdge host and investigative columnist Jimmy Sengenberger into the costlier state of Colorado and its sharp drop in the Institute's Free Enterprise Competitive Index.