Category Archives: Colorado

Molten salt and human sweat: the weird batteries that could store renewable energy

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From Nevada to Manchester, developers are trialling innovative solutions to clean energy’s biggest challenge

In the deserts of the United Arab Emirates a sprawling clean energy project, stretching across an area roughly the size of 12,600 football fields, will play host to a breakthrough allowing solar energy to power the equivalent of half a million homes through the night.

The Gulf state has been steadily combining 5.2GW of solar power capacity with 19GWh of battery storage to create the largest battery scheme in the world.

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Air quality plummets in 20 US states as smoke from Canadian wildfires spreads

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Millions of Americans face air quality alerts from Minnesota to New York as authorities urge people to stay indoors

Smoke from wildfires burning in south-central Canada and parts of Minnesota is spreading across the US, prompting air quality alerts in more than 20 states with millions of Americans expected to face unhealthy air conditions this week.

The smoke from the more than 180 active wildfires in northern Ontario made Chicago’s air quality the worst in the world on Thursday evening, followed by Detroit and Minneapolis, according to IQAir’s global rankings.

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Pilot killed fighting Colorado wildfire identified as Nicholas Dale

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The British Columbia pilot was the only person aboard the helicopter, which crashed during aerial firefighting

The pilot who died when his helicopter crashed while fighting a Colorado wildfire has been named as Nicholas Dale of Sooke, British Columbia.

Dale, 56, died when his helicopter crashed into the Silver Jack reservoir on Monday while fighting what authorities have named the Gold Mountain fire, the local Gunnison county sheriff’s office said. His body was later recovered from the submerged helicopter by divers.

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Officials release names of three firefighters killed in Colorado wildfire

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Emily Barker, Nick Hutcherson and Sydney Watson killed working to contain raging fires on Utah-Colorado border

The US Department of Interior on Monday released the names of three firefighters who were killed while working to contain wildfires along the Utah-Colorado border.

Two other firefighters who were part of the specialized helicopter-deployed crew were also injured in the blaze, although authorities did not identify them.

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Man gets life in prison for firebombing pro-Israel demonstrators in Colorado

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One person died and a dozen others were injured in the attack, during a June 2025 demonstration in Boulder

A man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty on Thursday to killing one person and injuring a dozen others in a 2025 firebombing attack on a demonstration in Boulder, Colorado, in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman looked down at a desk throughout the sentencing at the Boulder district court. He has meanwhile pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges for the attack last June.

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US justice department steps in on behalf of xAI in Colorado regulation case

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Move creates conflict between state and administration as Trump seeks federal framework over states handling issue

The US justice department said on Friday it had intervened in a lawsuit by Elon Musk’s xAI challenging a Colorado law aimed at regulating artificial intelligence systems.

In its intervention, the justice department said the law violated the 14th amendment’s equal protection guarantee by requiring companies to guard against unintended discriminatory effects while allowing some discrimination aimed at promoting diversity.

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Colorado funeral home owner sentenced to 30 years in decomposing bodies case

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Carie Hallford, 48, whose ex-husband, Jon, was earlier sentenced, expressed remorse over corpse abuse scheme

The co-owner of a Colorado funeral home was sentenced in state court on Friday to 30 years in prison for her part in a corpse abuse scheme that involved hiding nearly 200 decomposing bodies.

Carie Hallford, 48, was also sentenced to 18 years in prison earlier this month after pleading guilty to a federal fraud charge related to the scandal.

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‘The threat is here’: searing US heatwave bad news for wildfire season and water supply

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Experts say brutal temperatures in west threaten to melt sparse snowpack – and warn hot, dry conditions here to stay

A stunning heatwave that shattered records in the US west is threatening to rapidly melt the sparse snowpack and ramp up wildfire risks in the seasons ahead.

March has already been historically hot, but the early onset of summer weather across the region may be here to stay. There’s little reprieve in forecasts, which show more heat records may fall this spring.

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Trump names Erika Kirk to key advisory board of US Air Force Academy

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Widow of murdered rightwing activist Charlie Kirk replaces husband on 16-member panel of military training facility

Donald Trump has appointed Erika Kirk, the widow of murdered rightwing activist Charlie Kirk, to a key advisory board of the US Air Force Academy.

The 37-year-old joins a number of other loyalists to the president on the 16-member panel of the academy’s board of visitors, which according to its website “inquires into the morale, discipline, curriculum, instruction, physical equipment, fiscal affairs, academic methods and other matters” of the Colorado Springs military training facility.

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Colorado lightning strikes kill two elk hunters caught in ‘horrific act of nature’

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Bodies of Andrew Porter and Ian Stasko found by rescue crews after storm that likely killed them in ‘split second’

Lightning strikes in Colorado earlier this month killed two elk hunters who were caught in a storm, authorities concluded this week.

Andrew Porter and Ian Stasko, both 25, had been hunting in the Rio Grande national forest in southern Colorado the week of 11 September when they stopped making contact. After extensive search and rescue operations, crews came upon their bodies a week later.

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Teen Colorado school shooting suspect reportedly fixated on Columbine attack

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Desmond Holly also expressed neo-Nazi views online before a shooting critically injuring two students, ADL says

A teenager suspected in a shooting attack at a suburban Denver high school that left two students in critical condition appeared fascinated with previous mass shootings including Columbine and expressed neo-Nazi views online, according to experts.

Since December, Desmond Holly, 16, had been active on an online forum where users watch videos of killings and violence, mixed in with content on white supremacism and antisemitism, the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism said in a report.

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Colorado deploys more than 1,000 firefighters to battle two huge blazes

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Lee fire is one of largest blazes in state history after burning 130,000 acres, while Elk fire surpassed 14,000 acres

Firefighters in Colorado responding to one of the largest blazes in the state’s history are facing gusty winds and dry conditions that are expected to continue to drive extreme fire behavior.

More than 1,000 firefighters have been deployed, and while crews have gained containment on one fire, another has grown amid fire-friendly weather.

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Colorado prison evacuated as wildfire becomes one of largest in state history

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Lee fire chars more than 167 sq miles with 6% containment as California crews reach 62% containment on Canyon fire

A Colorado prison was evacuated as one of the largest wildfires in state history continued to grow, and officials warned residents of remote areas to be ready to leave on Sunday as gusty winds and low humidity fed the flames.

Evacuation orders were already in place for mountain communities as the Lee fire charred more than 167 sq miles (433 sq km) across Garfield and Rio Blanco counties, with just 6% containment. No injuries or structural damage has been reported.

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Denver museum known for dinosaur displays finds fossil under its parking lot

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A hole drilled 750ft deep to study museum’s geothermal potential yielded an unexpected surprise

A Denver museum known for its dinosaur displays has made a fossil bone discovery closer to home than anyone ever expected: under its own parking lot.

It came from a hole drilled more than 750 ft (230 meters) deep to study geothermal heating potential for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

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MyPillow’s Mike Lindell faces trial and plans to testify about 2020 election lies

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The case, brought by former Dominion employee Eric Coomer, could deepen Lindell’s legal and financial troubles

A trial underway in Colorado could add to the financial problems facing the pillow salesman and prominent election denier Mike Lindell and will serve as another test of whether defamation law can be effective to fight false claims about elections.

Opening statements began Tuesday in a case brought by Eric Coomer, who formerly worked in security and voting technology strategy for voting machine company Dominion. Coomer sued Lindell and a host of others who spread unproven claims that he interfered with the 2020 election. .

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Suspect charged with federal hate crime in attack on Colorado rally for Israeli hostages

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Mohamed Sabry Soliman charged with multiple felonies after allegedly shouting ‘Free Palestine’ as he attacked Boulder crowd

A man has been charged with a federal hate crime and multiple other felonies after he allegedly used a makeshift flamethrower and incendiary devices to attack a crowd of people who were raising awareness for Israeli hostages in Gaza, injuring 12 victims.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, is alleged to have shouted “Free Palestine” as he attacked the crowd on Sunday. The FBI said Soliman told police he planned the attack for a year and had specifically targeted what he described as the “Zionist group”, the Associated Press reported.

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Bird flu reinfections at US poultry farms highlight need for vaccines, experts say

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Aggressive prevention including wider changes to poultry raising needed after at least 56 US farms doubly infected

Scores of poultry operations in the US have been reinfected by bird flu since 2022, costing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal payouts, according to documents obtained by the Guardian.

The recurring outbreaks highlight the need for more aggressive prevention, including poultry vaccination and changes to how poultry is farmed, experts say.

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Boulder, Colorado, to be new home for the Sundance film festival

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The festival, started by Robert Redford in 1978, will move from its previous home in Park City, Utah, for 2027

Boulder, Colorado, has been named as the new home for the Sundance film festival starting in 2027.

The festival, which was started in 1978 by Robert Redford, will move from its home in Park City, Utah. Sundance brings more than 20,000 people a year to the ski town, which many had seen as too small to house something of this size.

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Trump outburst prompts removal of his ‘distorted’ portrait from Colorado capitol

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Painting of Trump was commissioned by Republicans, though president blamed Colorado’s Democratic governor

A portrait of Donald Trump that was commissioned by fellow Republicans – but which he evidently came to believe had been “purposefully distorted” – was removed from a wall at the Colorado state capitol where it had been since 2019.

After Trump posted complaints about the painting on his Truth Social platform, Colorado’s senate minority leader, Paul Lundeen, a Republican, asked that it be taken down and replaced with one that “depicts his contemporary likeness”. Colorado Republicans had raised more than $10,000 to commission the oil painting that was the target of the president’s ire.

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Fired FTC commissioner raises concern over Trump ties to tech billionaires

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Alvaro Bedoya points to ‘interesting coincidence’ that he was dismissed after criticizing Amazon’s Jeff Bezos

A day after his abrupt firing by Donald Trump from the Federal Trade Commission, Alvaro Bedoya raised questions about the US president’s relations with some of the country’s richest men.

Appearing at a hearing of the joint judiciary committee of the state legislature in Colorado on Wednesday, the ousted Democratic commissioner said it was an “interesting coincidence” his final public statement in post had blasted Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder.

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