Category Archives: Colorado

Colorado victims sue over attack at LGBTQ+ nightclub that killed five

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Suit accuses Club Q of lax security and says authorities’ ‘deliberate inaction’ enabled shooter to carry out attack

Two days shy of the second anniversary of a hate-fueled mass shooting at a queer nightclub in Colorado Springs, victims and mothers of those killed have filed lawsuits against the club for lax security and against the sheriff’s office for failing to trigger the state’s red flag law to disarm the shooter and ensure they could not purchase any more weapons.

“Club Q advertised itself as a ‘safe place’ for LGBTQIA+ individuals. But that was a facade,” read the two complaints, which contain allegations of negligence.

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Democratic leaders across US work to lead resistance against Trump’s agenda

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Democrats from California to Illinois prepare to ‘Trump-proof’ and ‘fight to death’ against his extreme proposals

After the November elections ushered in a new era of unified Republican governance in Washington, Democratic leaders across the country are once again preparing to lead the resistance to Donald Trump’s second-term agenda.

California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, said he would convene a special legislative session next month to “safeguard California values and fundamental rights”.

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Seventy-five infected as cases rise in US E coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s

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Update by Food and Drug Administration signals escalation in food poisoning outbreak affecting US west and midwest

The US Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that 75 people had now been infected by the E coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s quarter pounder hamburgers, as the number sickened by the bacterial illness continues to increase.

And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned on Friday: “The true number of sick people in this outbreak is likely much higher than the number reported, and the outbreak may not be limited to the states with known illnesses.”

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One dead and 12 rescued after elevator malfunction trapped group in Colorado gold mine

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Malfunction at Mollie Kathleen gold mine left one person dead and trapped visitors for hours underground

Twelve people have been rescued from a former Colorado gold mine after an elevator malfunction left one person dead, four injured and trapped the group underground, authorities said on Thursday.

The group had been stuck for hours on Thursday as officials tried to determine how to safely rescue them. Colorado governor Jared Polis confirmed Thursday evening that everyone had been brought out of the mine.

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Black bear with three cubs attacks man after breaking into Colorado home

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Animals crash through glass door of 74-year-old man’s home and claw at him when he tried to get them to leave

A 74-year-old Colorado man was injured after a black bear with three cubs crashed in through his sliding glass door and he was unable to get them to leave, the Colorado parks and wildlife department said.

Residents of the home were startled by a loud crash at about 8.30pm Thursday night and saw the bears coming in through the sliding door which had been left ajar.

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Paramedic convicted in Elijah McClain’s killing will be released from prison

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Judge reduces sentence to four years of probation for Peter Cichuniec, who injected McClain with ketamine in 2019

A Colorado paramedic convicted in the death of Elijah McClain, a Black man whose name became part of the rallying cries for social justice that swept the US in 2020, is being released from prison after a judge reduced his sentence to four years of probation on Friday.

Judge Mark Warner ruled that “unusual and extenuating circumstances” in the case justified reducing the five-year prison sentence for Peter Cichuniec, the Denver Post reported.

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Man charged with murder of Colorado dog breeder as 10 puppies missing

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Sergio Ferrer, 36, charged over death of 57-year-old Paul Peavey, whose 10 doberman puppies have not been found

Authorities investigating the murder of a Colorado dog breeder believed searching for his 10 doberman puppies might lead them to the perpetrator. But on Friday, officials said, they had charged a suspect and are now hoping this development will also help them locate the missing dogs, which are still unaccounted for.

Paul Peavey, a 57-year-old resident of Idaho Springs, Colorado, was found shot to death on 24 August – days after he had been reported missing by friends and family – by a search party combing through his sprawling 110-acre property.

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Colorado man left behind during office retreat survives night on mountain

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Injured hiker became stranded after co-workers descended without him before storm in Rocky mountains

A Colorado man survived a night on a mountain by himself – while injured – after being left behind by his co-workers during an office retreat, which rescue officials pointed out may lead to some “awkward encounters at the office in the coming days and weeks”.

Colorado’s Chaffee County Search and Rescue South (CCSAR-S) shared the hiker’s harrowing ordeal in a Facebook post earlier this week, saying that at about 9pm last Friday, it was “activated for a report of an overdue hiker”. The hiker was wearing all black on the standard route of Mount Shavano, a high mountain summit in the southern Sawatch range of the Rocky mountains.

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More than 100 people treated for heat-related illness at Colorado airshow

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Attendees who fell ill suffered from dehydration, heat exhaustion and heat stroke in 96F temperatures

More than 100 people were treated for heat-related illness at a Colorado airshow on Saturday, with attendees describing a lack of shade and free water on festival grounds as temperatures soared to 96F (36C) highs.

The Colorado Springs fire department said those who fell ill at the Pike’s Peak regional airshow suffered conditions such as dehydration, heat exhaustion and heat stroke, according to KRDO.

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Owners of Colorado funeral home where 190 bodies found ordered to pay $950m

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Jon and Carie Hallford found liable as court rules for victims’ families – but amount unlikely to be paid out

The Colorado couple who owned a funeral home where 190 decaying bodies were discovered last year were ordered to pay $950m to the victims’ families – a largely symbolic victory for families of the deceased.

According to an email sent to victims by Leventhal Lewis, the firm that filed the lawsuit, it is the largest judgment in Colorado’s history.

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One person killed and national guard deployed as Colorado battles wildfires

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Governor says national guard will support first responders as state becomes latest in west to battle several major fires

One person has died and at least five homes were destroyed as Colorado becomes the latest western state to battle several major wildfires.

The Boulder county sheriff, Curtis Johnson, reported the death was discovered in one of the five homes burned by the Stone Canyon fire near the town of Lyon, but did not provide further details. The fire has burned more than 1,500 acres (607 hectares) and was reported 20% contained on Wednesday evening.

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Scientists set up webcam in Colorado rattlesnake ‘mega den’ with up to 2,000 reptiles

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Researchers say rattlesnakes have an undeservedly maligned reputation but are social creatures who make good mothers

A “mega den” with as many as 2,000 rattlesnakes isn’t top binge-watching for many people. But a round-the-clock webcam in Colorado is providing a viewing bonanza for scientists and other snake enthusiasts whose observations are helping to broaden understanding of these unusual – and undeservedly maligned – reptiles.

The remote site on private land in northern Colorado is on a hillside full of rock crevices where the snakes can keep warm and hide from predators.

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Lauren Boebert, hard-right Republican, wins Colorado primary after moving districts

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Bitter intraparty fight is one of two elections that could help determine control of Congress in November

Despite a series of personal scandals, Lauren Boebert, a hard-right Colorado Republican who narrowly avoided defeat in 2022, won out over a crowded field of other Republican primary candidates in the fourth congressional district – previously led by Ken Buck – which leans more heavily Republican.

Boebert’s primary win is one of the most closely watched results of Colorado’s primary elections, which chose the winners in several bitter intra-party fights among the state’s Republicans, including in two competitive House districts that could help determine control of Congress in November.

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Judge partially lifts Trump gag order in hush-money case – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For the latest on Trump’s trial, read our full coverage here.

While his primary contest may be too close to call, the vote count thus far shows Republican congressman Bob Good trailing his challenger John McGuire by a small amount.

Good is now casting aspersions on the fairness of the election, NBC News reports:

Good claimed during an appearance on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast Monday that Lynchburg “did not secure their drop boxes.”

“There’s no accountability for when those boxes were opened,” Good said. “They were apparently left to be stuffed for two or three days after the election.”

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Colorado was built on stolen tribal land worth $1.7tn, report finds

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Report published by Native American-led non-profit identifies 10 tribal nations tied to land and how it was taken

A report published this week by a Native American-led non-profit examines in detail the dispossession of $1.7tn worth of Indigenous homelands in Colorado by the state and the US – and the more than $546m the state has reaped in mineral extraction from them.

The report, shared first with the Associated Press, identifies 10 tribal nations that have “aboriginal title, congressional title and treaty title to lands within Colorado” and details the ways the land was legally and illegally taken. It determined that many of the transactions were in direct violation of treaty rights or in some cases lacked title for a legal transfer.

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Colorado voters to decide on abortion rights after measure qualifies for ballot

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Supporters gather enough valid signatures to put measure – that would enshrine abortion rights into constitution – on to ballot

Voters in Colorado will have a say on abortion rights this fall after supporters collected enough valid signatures to put a measure on the ballot, part of a national push to pose abortion rights questions to voters since the US supreme court removed the nationwide right to abortion.

The Colorado measure officially made the ballot on Friday and would enshrine abortion rights into the constitution in a state which already allows abortion at all stages of pregnancy despite the supreme court’s overturning of Roe v Wade.

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Paramedic convicted over Elijah McClain killing sentenced to probation

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Jeremy Cooper injected McClain, 23, with ketamine after police forcibly restrained him as he walked home in Denver in 2019

A former paramedic who injected Elijah McClain with ketamine avoided prison and was sentenced to probation on Friday after his homicide conviction in the Black man’s death, which helped fuel the 2020 racial injustice protests.

Jeremy Cooper faced up to three years in prison. He administered a dose of the sedative to McClain, 23, who had been forcibly restrained after police stopped him as he was walking home in a Denver suburb in 2019.

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Women run 80% of US elections – but are targets of misogyny-laced threats

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Threats lean toward sexual or domestic violence, attacks on their families and criticisms that they can’t do their jobs

Carly Koppes kept her pregnancy hidden from the public as long as she possibly could, fearing the potential harassment that could come from those who frequently attack the Republican elections clerk.

When Koppes, who runs elections in Weld county, Colorado, did media interviews, she asked the people behind the camera to position her so her growing belly wasn’t visible, fearing her harassers would see the images or videos and make comments about her future child. She “never in a million years” anticipated that she’d have to hide her pregnancy, she said.

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Owners of Colorado funeral home where 190 bodies were found charged with Covid fraud

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Jon and Carie Hallford accused of fraudulently obtaining nearly $900,000 in pandemic relief funds from US government

The couple who owned a Colorado funeral home – where 190 decaying bodies were discovered last year – have been indicted on federal charges for fraudulently obtaining nearly $900,000 in pandemic relief funds from the US government, according to court documents unsealed on Monday.

The new federal charges against Jon and Carie Hallford add to charges in Colorado state court for abusing corpses. The 15 fraud charges filed against each of the Hallfords carry potential penalties of 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines, according to the indictment.

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Journalist removed from Colorado Republican event for ‘unfair’ reporting

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Sandra Fish, who has covered politics since 1982, was asked to leave by security about an hour into the state party assembly

A politics reporter from the Colorado Sun was removed from the state Republican party assembly this weekend because the state party chair Dave Williams claimed her reporting on the party was “very unfair”.

The reporter, Sandra Fish, who has covered politics since 1982, received a text early morning on Saturday from a Republican party organizer saying she was no longer invited to attend the assembly. Fish went anyway, receiving a credentialed pass at the door until she was asked to leave by security about an hour into the event.

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