On Tuesday, the U.S. Justice Department announced that the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, one of the most recognizable names in the global fight against HIV and AIDS, has agreed to pay $1.44 million to resolve allegations that it violated federal law by submitting false or invalid diagnosis codes to inflate payments from the Medicare Advantage program. For people who know AHF only through its decades of advocacy, this news may feel jarring. This is the organization that has provided free and low-cost testing, medical care, and support to millions of people around the world. It has been a fierce advocate for…

Here in Pagosa Springs, a familiar and uncomfortable feeling is settling over the community as a critical school bond measure appears on our mail-in ballots. It’s one thing to expect spin, half-truths, and outright distortions when they come from political advertisers and partisan operatives; we have all become somewhat hardened to that. But it feels profoundly more unpleasant, more personal, when the misleading information seems to be coming from our own neighbors, our own school district, and the folks we see in the grocery store. The issue at hand is Ballot Measure 5A, a request by Archuleta School District to…