Category Archives: Colorado

How couple’s arrest revealed terrible secret of Colorado funeral home

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The arrest of Carrie and Jon Hallford in Oklahoma follows shocking news to the loved ones of about 190 dead people

Over the years, the families of about 190 dead people whose remains were entrusted to a Colorado funeral home run by Carrie and Jon Hallford were led to believe that their loved ones’ remains had been cremated or buried.

They even received what were supposed to be ashes of their late family members, comforting keepsakes meant to help the grieving honor and remember their dead.

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Owner of Colorado funeral home and his wife arrested after 189 bodies found

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The decaying corpses were discovered after reports of ‘abhorrent smells’ inside company’s rundown building last month

The owner of a Colorado funeral home and his wife were arrested on Wednesday after the decaying remains of at least 189 people were recently found at his facility.

Jon and Carie Hallford were arrested in Wagoner, Oklahoma, on suspicion of four felonies – abuse of a corpse, theft, money laundering and forgery – the district attorney, Michael Allen, said in a news release after at least some of the aggrieved families were told.

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How a small airport in rural Colorado became a landing pad for the rich

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Private jet travel is booming – and community members living near airports say they are bearing the brunt

It was just before noon on New Year’s Day when PJ Breslin reached her limit. As she angrily typed out a letter to the editor of the local newspaper, the roar of yet another jet aircraft drowned out her thoughts and rattled the windows of her home office.

“It’s insane to even contemplate that many private jets flying into one small location!” wrote Breslin, who has lived in the western Colorado town of Rifle for more than 25 years. “Jets owned by the wealthy, entitled, third-home owners and fake environmentalist celebrities, who have zero idea of their impact on the valley and the planet, much less their neighbors. Nor do they care.”

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Man kills himself instead of carrying out US amusement park shooting, police say

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Colorado authorities say heavily armed 20-year-old found dead at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park during closing hours

A heavily armed man killed himself rather than carrying out an apparent plan to shoot up a mountaintop amusement park in Colorado, authorities said Monday.

The 20-year-old man was found dead at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park on Saturday morning before it opened to the public, apparently breaking into the park while it was closed. He was armed with an AR-style rifle, a handgun and explosives and was wearing body armor and tactical clothing, authorities said.

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Weather tracker: UK and France brace for Storm Ciarán

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Torrential rain and 100mph gusts forecast in some areas when low-pressure system makes landfall

Storm Ciarán is expected to arrive in the UK and Ireland, France, and the Iberian peninsula on Wednesday night into Thursday. Gusts of up to 100mph (160km/h) could be possible off the western coast of France before the severe winds filter through the Channel. Brittany and the western French coast could experience wind speeds of more than 80mph, and it is likely to remain windy through the weekend.

Torrential rain is also expected, with a chance of flooding in parts of western France and the north-western Iberian peninsula. Coastal inundation is also likely to be a risk along the northern Spanish and Portuguese coasts, as well as along the French coastline, with sea swell caused by strong winds and the low-pressure displacement of seawater. The rest of France could also experience heavy rain.

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Ex-NSA employee pleads guilty to trying to sell classified information to Russia

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Prosecutors say Jareh Dalke, facing up to 22 years in prison, gave security files to FBI agent that he thought was Russian operative

A former National Security Agency (NSA) employee from Colorado pleaded guilty Monday to trying to sell classified national security information to Russia.

Federal prosecutors agreed to not ask for more than about 22 years in prison for Jareh Sebastian Dalke when he is sentenced in April if he adheres to the terms of a plea deal, but the judge will ultimately decide his punishment.

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Elijah McClain: one Colorado officer convicted and one acquitted in 2019 killing

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The 23-year-old Black man was stopped as he was walking home from a store, placed in a neck hold and injected with ketamine

A jury has convicted one Colorado police officer and acquitted another for the 2019 homicide of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old whose death at the hands of law enforcement while on a walk home sparked international outrage and years of protests.

A jury found Randy Roedema, an Aurora police department (APD) officer, guilty of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault on Thursday. A second officer, Jason Rosenblatt, was found not guilty of manslaughter and assault. Both had held him on the ground and ignored his cries saying he couldn’t breathe. A third officer, who was the first to approach McClain, is also facing charges and has an upcoming trial.

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Colorado man accused of killing 10 in 2021 attack ruled competent for trial

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Suspect in Boulder attack was previously deemed to be mentally incompetent to stand trial and suffering from schizophrenia

A Colorado man accused of murdering 10 people in a shooting rampage at a Boulder supermarket in 2021, then diagnosed as schizophrenic and declared mentally unfit for prosecution months later, is competent to stand trial, a judge ruled on Friday.

Boulder county district judge Ingrid Bakke agreed with state psychiatric experts and prosecutors that Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa has made enough progress through treatment to render him capable of understanding the criminal proceedings against him and meaningfully assisting in his own defense.

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An old master? No, it’s an image AI just knocked up … and it can’t be copyrighted

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US ruling on works created through artificial intelligence gives boost to creative workers fighting for livelihoods

The use of AI in art is facing a setback after a ruling that an award-winning image could not be copyrighted because it was not made sufficiently by humans.

The decision, delivered by the US copyright office review board, found that Théâtre d’Opéra Spatial, an AI-generated image that won first place at the 2022 Colorado state fair annual art competition, was not eligible because copyright protection “excludes works produced by non-humans”.

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Ex-officer who left woman in car to be hit by train in Colorado given probation

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Jordan Steinke to serve 30 months’ probation for 2022 incident in which she handcuffed and placed woman in car parked on train tracks

A former Colorado police officer who put a handcuffed woman in a parked police vehicle that was hit by a freight train, inflicting serious injuries to the woman, has avoided a jail sentence and must serve 30 months on supervised probation.

Jordan Steinke, 29, was sentenced on Friday by Weld county district court judge Timothy Kerns, who found her guilty of reckless endangerment and assault for the 16 September 2022 crash near Platteville. Kerns acquitted the former Fort Lupton police officer of criminal attempt to commit manslaughter after her bench trial in July.

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Colorado mountain honoring governor who led Indigenous massacre renamed

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Members of US Board on Geographic Names voted to change name of Mount Evans to Mount Blue sky at request of tribes

Federal US officials renamed a Colorado mountain that was previously named after a disgraced governor of the state who led a massacre against Indigenous people.

Members of the US Board on Geographic Names voted to change the name of Mount Evans to Mount Blue Sky, at the request of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes.

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Republican congresswoman kicked out of musical for ‘causing disturbance’

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Lauren Boebert escorted out of show of Beetlejuice in Denver after audience accused her of vaping, singing and using phone

The US congresswoman Lauren Boebert was kicked out of a performance of the musical Beetlejuice in Denver on Sunday, according to security footage.

The theater didn’t name Boebert, but a spokesperson said on Wednesday that the video – which showed Boebert and a guest being escorted out of the venue – was of guests who were kicked out after audience members accused them of vaping, singing, using phones and causing a disturbance.

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Denver officer fatally shot man thought to be holding knife – but it was a marker pen

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Brandon Cole, 36, died after an officer fired at him twice after receiving a domestic violence complaint from a neighbor

A Denver police officer fatally shot a man who was holding a marker pen, which the officer mistakenly believed was a knife, officials said on Monday.

Newly released body-camera footage of the killing of Brandon Cole, 36, on 5 August shows an officer firing two shots at the man who was on the sidewalk. A young child and a woman were standing close behind the man as the officer fired at him and he fell to the ground.

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US officer who put handcuffed woman in car hit by freight train found guilty

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Jordan Steinke convicted on misdemeanour charges but found not guilty of more serious charges over 2022 crash in Colorado

A Colorado police officer who put a handcuffed woman in a parked police vehicle that was hit by a freight train was found guilty of reckless endangerment and assault but was acquitted of a third charge of criminal attempt to commit manslaughter during a trial Friday.

Jordan Steinke was the first of two officers to go to trial over the 16 September 2022 crash that left Yareni Rios-Gonzalez seriously injured.

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In a first, Colorado names hiking trail after Black guide and outdoorsman

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Dedication of the 3-mile loop to Winston Walker comes after a push to make national parks more inclusive

As a nature loving little girl, Jessica Newton never understood why the faces on information boards in the state and national parks she visited looked nothing like her.

“My parents would take me to these places and the platforms would tell you about a trail, or a person, but I’d never see anyone that looks remotely close to my color,” she said.

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Floods, tornadoes, heat: more extreme weather predicted across US

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Over a third of Americans under extreme heat warnings as Vermont, still recovering from historic flooding, prepares for more storms

The US is bracing for more extreme weather from coast to coast, with a heatwave hitting California, tornados in the midwest and the east expecting more rain as it continues to reel from historic flooding.

Residents of Vermont, still suffering from an onslaught of dangerous weather in recent days, are preparing for another round of severe storms in the area beginning as early as Thursday night.

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Dozens injured as apple-sized hailstones hit Colorado concertgoers

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Onslaught at Louis Tomlinson concert at Red Rocks amphitheater near Denver described as ‘straight out of a horror movie’

Dozens of people were injured by hailstones the size of apples that pelted concertgoers in Colorado on Wednesday night, with at least seven needing hospital treatment following the powerful storm.

Witnesses described the onslaught, at a concert by former One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson at the Red Rocks amphitheater in Morrison, west of Denver, as “straight out of a horror movie”.

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Parents of US man killed by police during mental health crisis to get $19m

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Killing of Christian Glass, 22, in Colorado last year prompted calls to reform how authorities respond to people in crisis

The parents of a 22-year-old Colorado man in a mental health crisis killed by police are to receive $19m from government state and local agencies while prompting changes to how officers are trained under a settlement announced on Tuesday.

The shooting of Christian Glass by the Clear Creek county sheriff’s office after Glass’s SUV became stuck in the mountain town of Silver Plume last year drew national attention and prompted calls to reform how authorities respond to people with mental health problems.

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Historic Colorado River deal not enough to stave off long-term crisis, experts say

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Agreement between California, Arizona and Nevada will cut water consumption by 13% but experts warn river is still in serious peril

A hard-fought agreement between California, Arizona and Nevada to slash the states’ use of the shrinking Colorado River is only a temporary salve to a long-term water crisis that continues to threaten the foundations of life in the American west, experts have warned.

The deal, announced on Monday, between the three states that make up the lower portion of the sprawling Colorado basin will pare back 13% of water consumption from the beleaguered river over the next three years if adopted, averting the prospect of more stringent cuts imposed by the federal government. Backed by $1.2bn in federal funds, the bulk of the reductions are structured to encourage voluntary cuts taken by rights holders, in exchange for grant money.

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US driver pulled over for speeding tried to switch places with dog, police say

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Motorist maneuvered inside car before getting out on the passenger side following police stop in Springfield, Colorado

A driver who was pulled over for speeding and appeared to officers to be drunk tried to switch places with his dog in an attempt to avoid arrest, police in Colorado are alleging.

An officer watched the motorist maneuvering inside the car before he got out on the passenger side on Saturday night in Springfield, a town of about 1,300 people on Colorado’s Eastern Plains, police said in a Facebook post on Sunday.

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